


Changing Destiny

by sardonic_pigeon



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Guys I've been working on this story since 2010, I just need to reupload those chapters here, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, So Bear With me, Some characters are tagged because they'll appear later, Some characters in the taglist won't show up til chap 21, They've appeared in the FFN version of the fic, Though the version I am posting here is the rewrite of this fic I began in 2012, just an fyi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 04:22:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17481083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sardonic_pigeon/pseuds/sardonic_pigeon
Summary: Aoi Coulter is a lonely girl who wants friends. The Akatsuki need information about the success or failure of their goals. When Aoi finds herself in the strange world of ninja and their extraordinary abilities, she crosses paths with the organization. They soon discover that they can surprisingly help each other succeed. Aoi knows navigating this world of belligerence will be tough, and that she shouldn't let her guard down, but can she handle the strain and pressures that come with being Akatsuki's reluctant tool? Knowledge can be a gift and a curse, something that Aoi will soon discover. From Ame, to Konoha, and to many other places, Aoi forms bonds with and makes enemies of people she never imagined meeting, and changes the course of a story she previously thought was fictional. The only question is, will she survive the outcome?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I am publishing this story on here exactly as it appears on FFN (aka even including the author's notes). I am very curious to see if this story will get more traffic on here. 
> 
> Bear with me for the beginning chapters; this is old 2012 (edited in 2014) writing. 
> 
> As it will take awhile to reupload every chapter I have so far, if you're interested in this story, I suggest you read it on Fanfiction.net. On there, the story is called 'Changing Destiny: Rewrite' (and my FFN username is Tanglepelt).

***EDIT 2014*:**

**Just polished this up a bit more, and fixed some odd sentence structures. This obviously looks like older writing of mine, since I didn't feel like rewriting the entire thing, so the more current chapters will be written better.**

**/**

**EDIT 2012:**  
Hello, everyone~ I'm back! Since my writing style has improved, I am editing and re-writing some chapters. This chapter won't be edited very much, since this is just the prologue, but there will be some changes. I will keep the original A/N just because it explains a lot.  
I will say that there will be some MAJOR edits and plot changes in future chapters.  
Also, because of a certain chapter, I had to rework "Tobi"'s entire character. Ugh.  
Enjoy this edited chapter~

Hello there! Welcome to my first Naruto fanfic. I have been working on this prologue for awhile, yet I am still not sure if it is very good. I hope the characters aren't too OOC. *Sigh* I'm my own worst critic, I suppose… Anyways, before I start the story I will warn you that it has an OC. I also warn you that there is language *coughcough, Hidan, coughcough* and violence. This story takes place before they capture the One-Tail. It is a slightly alternate timeline, with Tobi being an honorary member while Sasori is still alive. I will be using Japanese honorifics and village names (ex. Konoha will be used instead of "Hidden Leaf Village", etc.), yet I will call the headbands 'forehead protectors' instead of the Japanese term. I will also use the Japanese spelling of Pein/Pain's name. Oh! I do not own Naruto (Oh, how I wish I did!) Now, on with the story…

Blah, blah, blah: White Zetsu

 **Blah, blah, blah:** Black Zetsu

* * *

 

-Prologue-

Pein sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Every time the entire Akatsuki got together, there was always enough arguing to make the pierced man wish he was deaf. But as annoying as they all—minus Konan—were, he needed them for this particular jutsu. He finally opened his eyes to see what all the fuss was about. Deidara and Sasori were having yet another one of their "art debates", while Hidan and Kakuzu were arguing about the importance of money and religion. Kisame was snickering at both arguments while his partner, Itachi, observed silently, looking just annoyed as Pein. Finally, the Akatsuki leader's Rinnegan eyes rested on Zetsu, who was arguing with himself  _yet_   _again_ , and Tobi, who was childishly poking Deidara. Pein wondered how Tobi—or should he say Uchiha Madara, though he didn't know his real identity for sure—could act so stupidly without driving himself crazy.  _He's a damn good actor_.

When the orange-haired man couldn't take any more of the arguments, he took a deep breath and yelled, "QUIET!"

Suddenly, everyone fell silent. When the Akatsuki leader gives you an order, you  _follow it without question_. Pein internally sighed and continued. "The reason why I have requested for you all to come here today is because I need all of you for this particular new jutsu to work. This is the first time it is being used, and I want to—"

Pein was cut off by Hidan, who loudly asked, "What fuckin' new jutsu?"

"You never mentioned  _that_  when you called us here," added Deidara. What if it doesn't work, un?"

"I don't wanna waste my chakra on something that won't even work!" Hidan persisted.

Now Pein was really starting to get angry.  _No one_ talks to him that way, especially not the newest members of the Akatsuki. With a blink of an eye, he was behind Deidara and pinned one of the blond's arms behind his back. He decided to punish the Iwa-nin because Hidan was immortal and masochistic. Deidara, on the other hand, was not. He did not hate the bomber, but in order for the organization to listen to him, he needed to do something a bit dramatic. He pulled the blond's arm harder and hissed, "I'd apologize if you still want to use this arm!"

Deidara pondered this, trying to squirm out of the leader's grip. Pein could see that he was trying to keep any emotion from showing on his face.  _Trying but failing_ , he smirked. Despite the younger man's cockiness, he was still intimidated by him, a fact which amused Pein. For emphasis, the pierced man yanked on the blond's arm even more; he could feel it beginning to dislocate from the shoulder. He knew that Deidara felt it too when he grudgingly replied, "Yes, Pein."

"Yes, Pein what?" asked the leader, still gripping Deidara's arm.

"Yes, Pein- _sama_ ," answered the bomber, spitting out the honorific with obvious distaste.

"Good," answered Pein. Thinking that the leader was going to let go of him, Deidara began to relax. Before the blond even realized what was happening, Pein had yanked on his arm once more, finally dislocating it. Deidara tried to hide his pain, but let out a small grunt of discomfort.

"Next time, remember who you are speaking to," hissed Pein, harshly pushing him toward his partner. To the untrained eye, Sasori looked apathetic as usual, but Pein caught the tiny glare that was meant for him.

"Wasn't that a little harsh?" asked Zetsu.

" **Maybe, but it was certainly entertaining,** " retorted the plant-man's darker half.

Answering Zetsu's light half, Pein replied, "It might have been, but it got all of you to shut up, didn't it?"

Both halves of Zetsu stopped arguing, while Konan gave him a glare.

Pretending that he was never interrupted, Pein said, "As I was saying before, during one of Konan-san's trips into Ame, she found an unusual scroll. When she brought it back to me, we both opened it and saw that it was a jutsu I have never heard of. Apparently, it will bring someone from this or another world who knows the users' futures, as well as their successes and failures. Since we are soon going to hunt the Ichibi, I figured we should know if this goal will be achieved, as well as future captures of the bijuu. However, this jutsu requires a large amount of chakra, so I need all of you to help me perform it."

Seeing what had just happened to Deidara, nobody wanted to speak out, even though they had many questions. Instead, they just nodded, and Kisame asked, "When do we start?"

"Right now," answered Pein. "I will show you the necessary hand signs. Once you have the sequence memorized, we must all perform it at the same time. Afterwards, we must all draw some of our blood and place it in this diagram I drew." Pein pointed to an elaborate design of swirls and circles painted on the floor behind him.

Everyone except Deidara nodded, and Pein took note of this. He knew that Deidara wouldn't defy him again, so he wasn't worried that he wouldn't participate. He made sure everyone could see him as he showed them the sequence of hand signs. He also made sure that Deidara could perform them with his shoulder injured. It looked a bit painful, but he could. When everyone was ready, he yelled, "Go!"

Once they all completed the signs, they bit their thumbs and smeared the blood in the design. The diagram began to glow, but when the brightness dimmed, nothing appeared in it.

"Told ya it wouldn't fucking work," Hidan muttered.

"Just wait," said Pein. "It didn't fail. The scroll said that the person would not appear. He will find us."

"And how long is that supposed to take?" asked Sasori. "You know I—"

Pein cut him off. "Yes, yes, we all know you hate waiting!"  _What is with him? He doesn't age and has all the time in the world, yet he hates to wait. I'll never understand him._  He continued, "The person should arrive here in about a day or so. Until then, we have to wait. Now that the jutsu is complete, you are all dismissed. But stay in the base. I'll send you out in pairs tomorrow to look for the person."

Everyone was about to walk away when Pein thought of something. "Kakuzu-san, please fix Deidara's shoulder."

The stitched man nodded, and slightly tilted his head when he heard Deidara's name mentioned without an honorific. However, he didn't say anything; it wasn't in his nature to care. He just motioned for the bomber to follow him to the infirmary.

Once everyone finally left the room, Pein massaged his temples. It was hard work getting everyone to focus, and he was physically and emotionally drained. He hoped the jutsu worked. No, he  _needed_ for it work. Besides wanting to know the future of the Akatsuki, he also injured Deidara, one of his own, for this. He was sure that the blond wouldn't trust him for a long time, and he didn't want it to be in vain. Yes, being the leader was hard work. He sighed, and then he too left the room, shutting the lights behind him.


	2. The Ordinary and the Extraordinary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing....my OC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT 2014:  
> I expanded on Aoi's thoughts towards Akatsuki, as well as explained why her name is Japanese while she and her parents are clearly American. I also lengthened a few sentences to make them sound a bit more eloquent, as well as omitted some things that I cringed at.  
> I also changed the day this takes place from Friday to Monday, to correspond with the 2012 calendar correctly (since all this happens on the 19th). (I accidentally kept the date from when I first wrote this story back in November of 2010. Whoops, XD.)
> 
> /
> 
> EDIT 2012:  
> I added a scene to this chapter, to add some character to Aoi, but besides that, most of it was kept the same. (I just changed some phrasing to make it sound more like my current writing style.)

 

-Chapter One: The Ordinary and the Extraordinary-

Seventeen-year-old Aoi Coulter sighed as she walked into her high school's cafeteria. She scanned the room for her usual table, only to shake her head when she realized that all the seats were filled. Again. She wasn't surprised at this fact; she didn't like any of the people she sat with. She just ate lunch with them so that she wouldn't have to eat by herself Now that they had found someone to replace her, this was exactly what she had to do. Saving herself from the humiliation of eating alone in the cafeteria, Aoi left the noisy room and walked to the library. This is where she would eat whenever her table was full. The librarians didn't mind; she was quiet and never left a mess.

Aoi quietly unzipped her lunch bag and unpacked her lunch. Today's meal was a turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich, potato chips, and a bottle of water, which perked her up a little bit; food always tended to have that effect on her. She spent the first twenty-five minutes of her lunch period eating and daydreaming, trying to keep her mind off of her measly social status. Once she was done, she looked at the clock on the wall and saw that she had twenty-five minutes left. Since she had no homework from her previous classes, she pulled her sketchbook out of her bag and flipped it open to an unfinished drawing.

Aoi was an artist, which was-as dumb as she thought this was-one of the reasons she didn't have friends. Though she was talented at drawing, her school was all about sports and looking attractive. She couldn't care less about sports, and with her pale brown hair, grey eyes, and short stature, her appearance was plain at best and washed-out at worst. On top of that, she still had braces, which made her look younger than she already did.

Not even her non-artistic hobbies were safe from ridicule; in fact, they pushed her farther down on the social food chain. Aoi was a fan of anime and, despite not making this fact well-known, somehow it got out, and before long, she was teased for it. She figured it was lucky her tormentors didn't know what series she was into, otherwise they probably would have ruined them for her, too.

The brunette sighed again and started to finish shading in her drawing. It was a picture of Akasuna no Sasori, one of her favorite characters from  _Naruto_. Instead of drawing him in anime style, she drew him realistically. Her entire sketchbook was filled with portraits of the Akatsuki; she was experimenting with translating cartoon features into realism. She saved Sasori for last because he was her favorite character and she didn't want to mess the drawing up. Once she was finished, she put her sketchbook and pencil case back in her messenger bag. She saw that there were only five minutes left until fifth period was over, so she decided to close her eyes and daydream.

She found herself contemplating why certain characters of the series she watched were her favorites, though she focused on her picks from  _Naruto,_ since she just finished a drawing of one of them. While she acknowledged the fact that Akatsuki was a terrifying organization that had done terrible things, she somewhat related to the feelings of loneliness that a few members had.

Her eyes snapped open when she heard the bell ring. She gathered up her stuff, thanked the librarians, and ran to her next class. Sixth period, as well as seventh and eighth, went by fast, and soon the school day was over. Aoi rushed to her locker, grabbed all her necessary schoolbooks, and literally ran down the hallway.

Once she got outside, she stopped, the cold November weather taking away all her energy. This proved to be unlucky; a group of people approached her, condescending smirks on their faces. Though she didn't know them by name, Aoi knew that they were unpleasant; they messed with her many a time. Gulping, she gripped her sketchbook tighter, holding it to her chest. Because of the weather, she was not in the mood to be picked on; she just wanted to get to her car without any trouble.

Luck didn't seem to be on her side; as soon as she moved, the group circled her closer. Her stomach clenching with suspense, Aoi spoke. "Can I help you?"

The leader, a tall girl with thick blonde hair and a penchant for neon-colored clothing stepped forward until she was barely a foot away from Aoi. "Don't be rude; I thought you'd like some help carrying that heavy bag and sketchbook."

That seemed to be the cue for one of her friends, a gangly boy with scraggly black hair, to lunge forward and pull Aoi's bag off her shoulder. This caused the shorter girl to shift her sketchbook to one hand while the other allowed the boy to take the bag and throw it next to his feet. Hurting her arm wasn't worth losing a couple of textbooks and notes. While she was distracted, Neon Puke (Aoi nearly snickered when the nickname popped into her head) ripped the sketchbook out of her grasp.

Now Aoi panicked. Her drawings were precious to her; if they somehow got damaged, she didn't think she'd be able to create them exactly the same as she did before. "Give it back!"

"Oh come on, I just want to see your work; it can't be as good as the art teachers say." The taller girl carelessly flipped through the book, and Aoi's stomach clenched. When she stopped on a particular page, the brunette's heart sank.

"If you were trying to draw me, you did a hell of an awful job. My makeup looks so much better, and I wouldn't wear that tacky bathrobe."

"It's a cloak!" Aoi found herself saying, trying to reach for the book. "And that's not supposed to be you!"  _Deidara looks so much better than you, anyway._

"Don't deny it; of course it's me. I bet this is one of your strange fetishes, am I right? I've never seen you with a guy, nor have you seemed interested in any, so you must swing the other way. And now you're  _drawing_ me? You're such a freak. Ugh, this is embarrassing!"

Neon Puke stepped out of Aoi's range and held the sketchbook over her head while she used her free hand to rifle through her purse. Once she found what she was looking for, she smirked. As soon as Aoi got a glimpse of what she was holding, her heart nearly stopped. The blonde flicked a lighter, smirking. She held it under the sketchbook, laughing when the page started to singe.

At that moment, Aoi saw red. She was tired of being picked on, but she took it without a complaint, and without fighting back. Until now, that is. Her art was her life, one of the only things she could count on to take away the sting of isolation; she would not tolerate it being messed with. Narrowing her eyes, she ran at Neon Puke, pushing her as harshly as she could. She grabbed the sketchbook while the taller girl was surprised and held it tightly to her chest.

Neon Puke looked like she wanted to punch Aoi, but when she looked around, she saw that a teacher was in their line of sight. Shaking her head, she smirked again. "I hate to cut this short, but I don't want detention. See you around, freak." She nodded, and she and her friends walked away, disappearing into the sea of students and cars.

Shakingly grabbing her bag, Aoi willed herself not to cry, at least not until she reached her car. Forcing a stoic expression on her face, she walked, counting her steps to distract her. It wasn't long before she reached her destination, but by the time she got there, her suppressed tears had subsided into a numb pit in her stomach.

Once she got home, she walked up the stairs to her room and flopped onto the bed, the horrible feeling returning. She pulled her sketchbook out of her bag, terrified of how much it was damaged. Luckily, all her drawings seemed to be intact, minus some singing on the bottom of the Deidara one.  _I can pass that off as an intentional effect._ Relieved that her artwork was unharmed, Aoi hugged the book to her chest. A few tears escaped from her eyes, but she wiped them away quickly. Now that everything was all right, at least for the moment, she closed her eyes, ready to relax. All she wanted to do now was watch  _Naruto_ , and since she only had economics homework that night, she didn't have to start it right away. Before she put in a DVD, she looked at herself in the mirror, trying to think of happy thoughts. She internally chuckled while she brushed out her brown hair.  _Why the heck did my parents name me_ Aoi _? That's Japanese for blue, and it's not like I have blue eyes._ While she was sure some people would enjoy having such an unusual name (by American standards, at least), she hated it. Her parents had seen the name in a book, and, wanting to make sure their daughter stood out, decided on it.  _Well, it backfired._ While Aoi did stand out, it was, to her classmates, in a negative way.  _At least I'm not really blue..._

Right as she thought this, she was reminded of Hoshigaki Kisame, the blue-skinned, shark-like member of Akatsuki, and she snickered. She started to hum "Blue" by Eiffel 65.  _Kisame's theme song._

Feeling a bit happier than she did before, she grabbed a random  _Naruto_ DVD and put it in her DVD player. As the title menu played, she realized this disk had the episodes where Sakura and Chiyo fight Sasori.  _Great. Of course I choose the one where he's killed off. That's just my luck. Oh well...At least I get to see Sakura be a badass!_ _  
_

She stopped the DVD when she heard her parents' voices downstairs. Thinking that it was time for dinner, the brunette quickly turned off her TV and started to walk downstairs. She stopped when she realized that her parents were talking about her.

"I just don't get it, I had plenty of friends in high school," said Rosaline, Aoi's mother. "Why can't she just be like everyone else?"

"I don't know, maybe it's a phase. She'll probably grow out of it when she goes to college next year," answered Julius, Aoi's father.

"I doubt it; she's always hated interacting with people, even when she was young," replied Rosaline. "I just wish she'd find herself a best friend, or even a boyfriend. That would show that she was at least a bit normal."

Aoi felt her face beginning to turn red. She knew that her classmates thought she wasn't normal, but her parents thought so too? She knew that she really didn't go out much besides the bookstore, the art store, and the library, but she didn't find that unusual. Some people liked to hang out with friends; she liked to read and draw. Alone.  _Okay, maybe that_ is  _a bit weird,_ she thought.  _But still, this put me in a crappy mood, and I wasn't having a good day to begin with. I'll go to the art store after dinner. Getting a new sketchbook should cheer me up._

Deciding her plans for the night, Aoi tried to make her face look normal as she walked down the stairs. "Hey," she called out, a fake smile on her face, "is dinner almost ready? I want to go to the art store to get a new sketchbook, and it closes at nine."

"Dinner's ready now. We're having lemon pepper chicken," said Julius. If Aoi didn't hear the conversation before, she would have been thrilled; lemon pepper chicken was her favorite. Now, it was just ironic that she would be eating her favorite food when she really didn't want it.

Julius and Rosaline tried to make conversation with Aoi, but she didn't feel like talking. After awhile, the two adults talked amongst themselves, leaving Aoi to eat in peace. After she was done, she cleaned off her plate and told her parents that she would be back in two hours. She went upstairs to grab her car keys and her messenger bag. After making sure that her purse was in the bag, she ran back downstairs, put on her coat, and headed out the door.

It was November, and naturally, it was cold outside, especially when one lives in the Midwest. Aoi shivered as she got into her car, hoping that it would warm up soon; she hated driving when she was cold. It was a twenty minute ride to the nearest art supply store; by the time she was there the car was toasty warm. She almost didn't want to leave it to go back outside in the freezing cold, but she wanted to look around the store more. So she reluctantly left the car, locking it behind her, and quickly walked through the parking lot and into the store.

Aoi immediately felt her mood lighten when she looked around. She saw aisles upon aisles of markers, colored pencils, sketchbooks, and even sculpting clay. Before she could distract herself, walked back to the sketchbook section; that  _was_ what she was planning on buying, after all. When she looked at the sketchbook she really wanted, she saw that it was expensive. Aoi didn't like to spend unnecessary money, so she decided to get a cheaper one; the paper wasn't as good, but she still could draw effectively on it.

Since she still had plenty enough time to drive back to her house, she decided to look upstairs, which was where the fabric and jewelry-making supplies were. Aoi was no good at sewing or making jewelry, but she liked looking at all the different colors and textures of fabrics and the different pendants for necklaces. She was looking down the jewelry aisle when something caught her eye. It was a dark red jewel with silver wire wrapped around it in some sort of swirling pattern. It had no price tag on it and Aoi wasn't sure if it was for sale, but for some reason, it called out to her. She had to have it. She decided to go downstairs and ask a worker to tell her the price. If it was too expensive, she could always ask her parents to buy it for her as a Christmas present.

She started walking down the steps when she suddenly lost her balance. She tried to keep herself upright, but she slipped down the rest of the stairs. She still clutched the jewel in her hand, unable to stop herself from tripping over the last step and hitting her forehead on the edge of a table next to the staircase. She felt a searing pain in her head, and soon she blacked out. But not before the jewel started to glow…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was the end of Chapter One! Sorry about the cliffhanger; I just thought that this would be a good place to end the chapter. I am also sorry if this was really boring; I wanted to really give a good description of Aoi and her life. The Akatsuki appear in the next chapter.
> 
> Yes, Aoi likes Sakura as a character. (Just because she likes the Akatsuki doesn't mean she hates the people who fight/kill them. She knows why the story plays out the way it does...)
> 
> In anime, appearance reflects someone's personality. That's why I gave Aoi pale brown hair and grey eyes. She's supposed to be very ordinary looking. Most characters have one unique part of their appearance (Pein's piercings, Deidara's bangs, Tobi's mask, etc.) so I gave her braces to make her seem younger. This is to make her seem more socially awkward too.
> 
> I hope you enjoy the story so far! Chapter Two is coming soon!
> 
> EDIT 2012:
> 
> I hope this made the chapter more exciting. I added the part where Aoi was getting bullied just to show that she was not liked at her school.


	3. Hello, New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoi meets the Akatsuki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT 2012: This chapter is pretty similar to the original, but I made Deidara less jumpy. I also edited Aoi's thoughts on Tobi's real identity.
> 
> *EDIT 2014*: I changed how willing Aoi was to reveal her information at first, and made her definitely more strategic in what she reveals.
> 
> The Akatsuki are back! The real plot can begin now!
> 
> Oh, I don't own Naruto (sadly, lol).
> 
> *WARNING: Spoilers on how the Akatsuki die are in this chapter!*

Chapter Two: Hello, New World

When Aoi came to, she had a killer headache. She brought her hand onto her forehead to check for any damage and, sure enough, she felt a long gash, as well as the blood that leaked from it. She groaned to herself resisting the urge to facepalm.  _How embarrassing! I can't believe I fell down the stairs! I must've looked like a total idiot!_ Opening her eyes, she was shocked to find that she wasn't in the art supply store anymore; she was outside, on a small hill that overlooked a city.  _Okay, this is weird. I must've hit my head pretty hard, and now I'm in a coma or something. Yeah, that's logical. Because there is no way that I would end up in a city that looks like…_

Aoi's eyes widened when she realized what the city reminded her of: Amegakure. She knew that Ame was a fictional place, so she assumed that she was still unconscious.  _It's pretty realistic, though,_ she continued to think, looking at her surroundings. She slowly stood up, deciding that she was going to look around.

Picking up her messenger bag that she surprisingly still had, she started to walk down the hill, holding her bleeding forehead.  _If this is all a dream, why does my forehead still hurt?_ She shrugged and rolled her eyes; she didn't understand dream logic. Just as she thought this, she felt something in her other hand; she realized that she was still holding the jewel she found at the store. She put it in her bag so she wouldn't lose it and continued walking.

When she got fully into the city and saw various people with Ame forehead-protectors, she knew that her first assumption was correct; she was indeed in Amegakure. She looked around, taking in all the sights and sounds. Aoi was fascinated by this village and, real or not, she was going to enjoy her time here. She wasn't looking where she was walking, however, and bumped into something or someone.  _Definitely someone,_ she thought when she heard a grunt.

"Oh, I am so sorry!" she exclaimed, turning to face whoever she walked into. She did a double take when she recognized this particular person…

* * *

Deidara was not having a good day. His shoulder was still sore from Pein dislocating it the night before, even though Kakuzu fixed it. To add insult to injury, the pierced man had sent him and Sasori to scout around the entire village, looking for the person he summoned. The bomber sighed as he thought of how the others just had to look around the base itself.  _Lucky bastards; of course_ we're  _stuck with the hard job._

He was broken out of his thoughts when he felt someone bump into him. Cursing under his breath, he looked to see who had almost knocked him down. The person was a short, brunette girl, and when she looked up at him, he noticed that her eyes were a shade of dark grey, like wet clay. She said something that sounded like an apology, but he couldn't tell; she was speaking a language that was unfamiliar to him. For some reason, she looked at him with recognition, even though the blond was positive that he never saw her before in his life.

"Deidara, Sasori," she said, looking at the two with awe. She then proceeded to say something else, but Deidara couldn't understand any of it.

"She has no chakra," said Sasori, nudging him with Hiruko's tail.

 _Why does he always hide in that ugly puppet? It's unnerving!_ Aloud, Deidara responded with a half-interested "What?"

"Like I said, brat, she has no chakra. None at all. And she's not masking it either. It's bizarre," the puppeteer replied.

"Should we take her back to Pein, un? He said that we should look for someone with unusual chakra," Deidara asked, looking at his partner.

"My gut says we should. She apparently knows us, though we have never met her. If she is not who we're looking for, I could always make her a part of my collection."

 _His collection._ Deidara shuddered. He hoped, for her sake, that she was who they were looking for.

"Get moving," barked Sasori, pointing Hiruko's tail at the girl, who was just standing next to him the whole time, watching them.

She shrugged her shoulders and said something in her language. Guessing that she couldn't understand them, Deidara roughly grabbed her wrist. He immediately dropped it when he felt something wet and sticky. He looked at his own hand and realized it was covered blood. Taking a closer look at the girl, she realized that she had a long cut on her forehead.  _That can be fixed when we get to the base, if Pein permits it_. Once again, he grabbed her wrist and pulled it, trying to convey that she must follow them.

She must have gotten the message because she nodded and followed the blond. Sasori followed behind them so she wouldn't try to escape. Not that she would; she seemed quite content, even though one of Deidara's hand-mouths was licking the blood off her hand. Either she didn't notice or she didn't care, which puzzled him.

Once they got inside the base, the two Akatsuki took her to Pein's study.

After finally removing himself from Hiruko, Sasori spoke. "Pein-sama, I believe we found someone who could be the person you summoned. She knew our names, even though we never met her before. She has no chakra at all, though, which is strange."

"What is her name?" asked Pein, looking at the girl.

"We don't know; she doesn't speak our language, un," answered Deidara.

"That can be fixed," answered the pierced man. He made a few hand signs, then placed a finger on the girl's mouth. "Girl, what is your name?"

"My name is Aoi Coulter, or as people in your world say it, Coulter Aoi, Pein-sama," answered the girl, who could now speak the same language as everyone in this world.

"How do you know my name?" he asked, tightly gripping Aoi's shoulders. If she was scared, she didn't show it, and Deidara gave her credit for that.

"I...ah..." she stammered, looking like she was trying to think of how to phrase whatever she needed to say. "I know all about you," she finally stated, biting her lip. On her teeth were shiny, metal squares with a metal wire running through them.

 _What are those? They look mechanical._ Deidara was confused. He looked at Sasori, and then back at Aoi.  _Is she a human puppet too?_

"You will tell me what you know and how you know it," hissed Pein, grabbing the girl and nearly throwing her into his study. He went in after her, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Aoi was surprised when Pein threw her into his study. Her forehead still throbbed painfully, and she was starting to think that everything was real. Something weird was going on, and the brunette was positive that it had something to do with the mysterious jewel.

"Aoi!" barked Pein, snapping her out of her thoughts. "What do you know, and how do you know it?"

 _What, no honorific?_  She didn't say it aloud, though; Pein was even more intimidating in person than in the anime and manga. What she did say was, "I will tell you everything I know, if you answer a question of mine first. How did I get here, Leader-sama? As you probably know, this isn't my world." While she really didn't want to reveal information that would alter the course of the story, especially since that meant more people would probably die, she didn't want to die herself. That meant she would have to cooperate.

Pein nodded. "Yesterday, the members of Akatsuki and I performed a jutsu that would summon someone who knew our futures to us. That person is apparently you."

"Did it have anything to do with this?" Aoi asked, taking the jewel out of her bag.

"That symbol is what I was looking for," answered the pierced man. "I drew that same pattern on the floor, for the jutsu."

Aoi nodded, though her stomach churned in apprehension for what she was about to reveal. "You answered my question, so I will answer yours. I know a lot about your organization. Your names, abilities, backstories, favorite foods, etc." She deliberately left out information that would harm other characters, hoping that Pein would overlook it.

"What about mission successes and failures?" demanded the orange-haired man. "I know you know something more than what you said; I can see it in your eyes." He leaned closer, his eyes cold. "It would be in your best interests to cooperate."

The brunette's stomach flipped more, and she realized that she could not talk her way out of this one. "Very well. I do know that your organization almost completely dies out." Bowing her head, she let the information spill from her lips. "Sasori dies first; killed by Haruno Sakura of Konoha and Lady Chiyo of Suna." She inwardly gagged; she felt even more worthless than she did already.  _Naruto and his friends aren't even counting on me, but I still let them down by altering their timeline._  "Hidan 'dies' next. Yes, I know he's immortal, but he is decapitated and buried alive by Nara Shikamaru of Konoha. He is slowly dying of malnutrition. Next is Kakuzu, who is killed by Hatake Kakashi, also of Konoha. After him comes Deidara, who uses his C0 attack to blow himself up in an attempt to kill Uchiha Sasuke. He fails, because Itachi dies next; killed by Sasuke. After that, uh, you die, Pein-sama. Or should I say… _Nagato-sama_. You die bringing some of Konoha's dead back to life. Kisame dies next, letting himself get eaten by sharks he summoned instead of revealing information on Akatsuki to the people who were interrogating him. That's all I know."

This was actually a lie. She knew that Konan died protecting Nagato's body from Uchiha Obito, who called himself Uchiha Madara after dropping his Tobi persona. She didn't want to say this to the leader yet; she didn't want to start a war between Pein and Obito. She also knew that Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu, Itachi, and Nagato would be brought back to life by Kabuto, but she didn't mention this either; she didn't want anyone to go after Kabuto, especially since Orochimaru was still alive, at the moment, especially since it would alter everything even more. "However," she continued. "I do know that Tobi is actually Uchiha Madara, who is another leader of Akatsuki." Now that she knew the masked man's real identity, it was weird to keep using his other fake identity, but since it was the persona Pein knew, she figured she had to.

"So you know Tobi's true identity, then," stated Pein.

"Yes," answered Aoi. Suddenly, a shooting pain shot through the cut on her forehead. She reflexively brought her hand to the wound.

"I will send you to Kakuzu-san so that will be healed. I must have time to think about this. After you are healed, he will take you to the meeting room. I believe that the others would want to know this information," said Pein.

"Yes, Leader-sama," answered Aoi, her teeth slightly clenched in pain. She was grateful that the interrogation ended here; she was hoping she'd be able to get away with not revealing anything about the jinchuuriki, at least at the moment. She knew it would come up at some point, and she was trying to think of a way to answer without putting Gaara, Naruto, and the other remaining jinchuuriki in any more danger. She was glad that the knowledge of Akatsuki's deaths distracted the leader temporarily.

"Oh, and one more thing, Aoi-san. Do not mention that Tobi is Madara to the others. Only Konan, Itachi, Zetsu, and I know. I'd like to keep it that way." Pein's voice was neutral, but Aoi heard the hidden threat. She nodded; she didn't want to be killed, after all.

"Good. Let's go, then." Pein opened his door and led Aoi out. He looked surprised when he saw that Deidara were still standing by the door.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked.

"I'm bored, and I wanted to keep out of the way of that masked shit Tobi, un. Sasori no danna left because he got tired of waiting around," answered the blond.

"Then take her to Kakuzu-san to get her wound fixed if you're so inclined to do something. I have work to do," said Pein, pushing the brunette towards the bomber. She almost fell into him, but grabbed his shoulder to stop herself.

"Sorry about that."

"Just keep moving, un. Clumsiness isn't cute."

The two walked in silence until Deidara asked, seemingly out of the blue, "What are those things on your teeth?"

"You mean my braces?" asked Aoi. She realized that ninja probably didn't go to the dentist, and internally chuckled at the thought of the Akatsuki in a dentist's waiting room. "Braces make your teeth straighter. They really hurt sometimes though, especially when the wires get tightened and new brackets get put on and…" she stopped when she realized she was rambling. She really didn't talk to people very much, so she tended to say a lot when she did. "Sorry," she continued. "I'll shut up now."

"You talk a lot. More than I thought. But at least it's interesting stuff, and not crap like Tobi's ramblings. He blathers on all the time about shit that doesn't matter. But you live in a strange place, un."

Aoi hesitantly explained more of her world to the bomber, who seemed to be implying that he was interested in learning more. She only left out that he and the rest of the Akatsuki were supposed to be fictional; she didn't think that he could handle that yet.

"So in your world, there's no such thing as chakra and jutsu, people ride in mechanical beasts, metal balls can pierce through skulls with the simple flick of a trigger, and girls dress like guys, un?" he asked. "Sounds pretty backwards to me. No wonder you're so stunted."

"What?" she asked, surprised. She looked at her clothes, which consisted of a blue t-shirt, navy blue zippered jacket, and dark blue jeans. "Actually, an outfit like this can be common on girls." She didn't say that at her school, most girls wore skirts and blouses. "Guys' outfits are baggier than this." She focused on the clothing comment because it was the easiest to explain.

"Oh," answered the Iwa-nin. "In this world, girls usually wear a dress of some sort, with leggings or shorts. Nicer to look at than your weird clothes, un."

She nodded, thinking of Sakura's and Ino's outfits.  _I should probably get new clothes so I don't look like a freak here._

"How old are you, un?" he asked, tilting his head.

Aoi was surprised by the randomness of the question, but answered it truthfully. "I'm seventeen. Why do you ask"

"Really? I'd never guess," he replied. "You look so much younger, un. I was just worried that Pein put all his faith into a jutsu that dumped some useless child here. I just didn't want to be stuck with babysitting."

Aoi sighed. "I know I look young. I haven't grown any taller in two years. I've looked exactly the same from when I was fifteen. I even still have the braces."

"Like Sasori-danna, un," he muttered, half to himself.

"What?" asked Aoi.

"He hasn't changed his appearance either," he explained.

"But he's a puppet; he's not supposed to look older," she retorted.

"How…did you know that?" the blond asked, surprised, the overconfident smirk now gone.

 _Shit._ "Well, ah, let's just say I know a lot about this organization."

"Really, so when I grabbed your hand, you didn't care that I had mouths on mine?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope, doesn't bother me a bit," she replied, shrugging. "I'm used to being an outcast; I don't find people who are different from me weird. That'd just make me a hypocrite."

Deidara nodded, an expression that almost looked understanding flitting across his face for a second or two. "We're at the infirmary. You're Kakuzu-san's problem, now."

Aoi nodded. "Thank you, Deidara-san." To her, adding honorifics to names was strange, but she knew that in order to even attempt to blend in, she'd have to speak like the natives of this world.

"For walking you to the infirmary?" he asked, incredulous.

"Well, yes," replied the brunette, "but also for talking to me. Not many people do. I thank you for that." It felt weird thanking Akatsuki's terrorist bomber, but she wasn't lying. It  _did_ feel good to converse with someone amiably, for once.

With that, she knocked on the door. An extremely tall, stitched man opened it. "You're the brat Pein-sama summoned, I take it. Don't just stand there; the sooner you get fixed up, the sooner you can leave."

Aoi nodded, and walked inside. She turned around and saw Deidara narrow his eyes at her before smirking slightly and leaving.  _Whatever happens, it will be interesting, that's for sure._ The brunette just hoped that she'd be able to live through it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> I actually fixed this one up a lot more than I thought I would. I hope Aoi's reaction to being summoned to Akatsuki and being forced to reveal information is more realistic.
> 
> I also hope that Deidara's interaction with her, as well as his questions, were in-character.
> 
> Be on the lookout for more edits.
> 
> /
> 
> EDIT 2012:  
> I decided that Sasori will hide in Hiruko whenever he goes outside, since he does so in the anime/manga. I also like to think that he is a master of disguise, so if he doesn't use Hiruko, he'll use a transformation technique on missions even when he doesn't need to, in this story.
> 
> And that ends Chapter Two! It might have been boring, but Aoi needed to prove that she indeed knew about the Akatsuki before Pein even remotely trusted her.
> 
> Chapter Three is coming soon!


	4. Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoi meets the rest of the Akatsuki, and realizes that she is indeed in another dimension, and that she cannot be sent back to hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> This chapter wasn't as drastically edited as the previous one; only a few lines of dialogue were changed.  
> I do want to remind everyone that Aoi is sent into the Naruto universe in November of 2012. That means that she has no idea what happened in chapters and plot points that appeared in later years (ex:that Zetsu is manipulating everything). However, these plot points will be eventually addressed, since these events were set into motion long before Aoi showed up. She just won't have any knowledge of them. Basically, the last chapter she read was 609. 
> 
> EDIT 2012:
> 
> Welcome to Chapter Three of "Changing Destiny"! I hope all of you who are reading this are enjoying the story so far! In this chapter, there will be more interactions between Aoi and the rest of the Akatsuki.
> 
> *Warning, this chapter has language*
> 
> I do not own Naruto (obviously everyone knows this already).

-Chapter Three: Tension-

Despite the lingering apprehension that made her stomach churn, Aoi was curious to see how Kakuzu would heal her wound. She didn't know he was a medical ninja; all she knew from the anime was that he stitched Deidara's arms and Hidan's head back to their bodies.

The stitched-nin's hand glowed green, like she saw Sakura's and Tsunade's do, as he placed his hand on Aoi's forehead. She felt it get warm and gradually the pain disappeared. "Thank you, Kakuzu-san," she said when he was finished.

The Taki-nin only grunted.

"Um, Kakuzu-san, Leader-sama said that you were supposed to take me to the meeting room. He wanted me to explain to everyone why I'm here," said Aoi.

Kakuzu got up and walked out of the infirmary, with Aoi following behind him. Unlike when she walked with Deidara, she didn't even attempt to make conversation; Kakuzu didn't seem like the talking type.

Before long, she and the green-eyed man had made it to a door that she presumed to be the meeting room.

Kakuzu opened the door and gestured for her to walk inside. "After you," he said, though he shoved her when she wasn't moving fast enough.

As soon as she was inside, Kakuzu followed her. Once she actually looked around, she noticed that the rest of the Akatsuki—minus Pein—was sitting around a meeting table, staring at her. There were two seats open; one for Kakuzu and one she presumed was for Pein. While Kakuzu took his seat, Aoi stood where she was, wondering what to do.

She didn't need to wonder for long. A couple moments after she arrived, Pein entered the room. He opened his mouth to say something, but he wasn't able to let out a word because someone else spoke. "So who's the bitch?"

 _Hidan,_ Aoi thought, inwardly rolling her eyes. She would've known if he spoke even if she wasn't looking at him. The silver-haired Jashinist might have been censored in the English manga, but the brunette watched the subs and knew what a foul mouth he had.

Pein looked like he was going to kill someone. "This is Coulter Aoi," he said through gritted teeth. "She is the person we summoned last night. She apparently knows a lot about all of us. I called this meeting because I learned some disturbing facts. About your deaths."

"That's fuckin' bullshit! I'm immortal!" yelled Hidan.

"Don't be so sure," retorted Pein. He nodded at Aoi. "Apparently, you can die from malnutrition, though slowly."

"Yeah right. That's impossible! Isn't it?" Hidan looked around.

"I believe Aoi-san can make everything clear," said Pein.

That was Aoi's cue to start explaining. She told them everything she told Pein, minus Tobi's true identity and Pein's death. She didn't want to embarrass the leader in front of everyone. She hated repeating this information, but it wasn't like she had any other options.

Once she was done explaining, the meeting room was in an uproar, with everyone talking at once.

"I got killed by  _Uchiha Sasuke_ , un? Fucking Uchiha and their damn eyes!" That was Deidara. Aoi noticed that he was sulking. If it wasn't about his death, she would have laughed.

"Technically, you killed yourself, shit for brains," said Hidan.

"Uchiha made me! This is actually useful information; now we can prevent this from happening, un," Deidara replied.

"Yes, thank you, Aoi-chan!" exclaimed a voice Aoi would have thought was sweet if she didn't know who was really speaking.

"Oh! You're welcome, Tobi-san!" Aoi was nervous. She considered Obito to be even more intimidating than Pein, which was saying a lot. She hoped he stuck to his Tobi personality while she was here.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Tobi pulled her into a hug. She realized that he was extremely strong, and was hugging her to the point where she felt pain.  _He's up to something,_ Aoi thought nervously.

The masked man finally released her, saying, "Aoi-chan is so little! From now on, Tobi will call her Aoi-chibi!"

 _Great, even the Akatsuki pull the height card!_ She looked over at Kisame.  _But then again, with someone like_  him  _in the group, being only five feet makes me seem like a shrimp._

"Ha, for once, you said something that was true, Tobi!" laughed Kisame. He looked back at Aoi and then laughed some more. "Aoi-chibi! That fits!"

"Now that she proved that she knows the future, Aoi-chibi can tell us where the tailed beasts are!" Tobi exclaimed. Everyone in the room suddenly became silent.

"Yes, do tell us, since we need them for our plan," ordered Pein

 _Crap! I like the Akatsuki, but I don't want them to kill Gaara, Naruto, and the other jinchuuriki! Damn you, Obito!_ Aoi decided that she was going to have to lie.

"Okay then," said Aoi, choosing her words carefully. "I don't know exactly who and where they are, but I know the Ichibi is in Suna, the Nibi and Hachibi are in Kumo, and the Kyuubi is in Konoha."

 _There,_  she thought,  _I didn't tell them any information that they didn't know already._

"We already knew that," said Sasori. "Don't you know anything else?"

She looked at Pein. "I am sorry," she said, bowing her head and feigning disappointment, "but that is all I know. I'll tell you when I know anything else."

"That is also something I wanted to ask you."

Aoi whirled around, surprised that this person had spoken. "Itachi-san?"

The raven-haired man looked at her and continued. "Just how do you know so much about us?"

 _Stupid Uchiha and their questions!_ The brunette didn't want to tell them all that they were fictional where she came from. Instead she said, "Dreams. I've had dreams about all of you for a long time." That wasn't a total lie; Aoi had dreamt about the Akatsuki a few times.

Itachi nodded, seemingly pleased with her answer. Aoi didn't miss the look he gave Pein, however, and wondered what it meant.

"I believe that this meeting is over. Aoi has told us all that she knows," said Pein.

"What do we do with her now, un?" asked Deidara.

"Can I sacrifice her to Jashin-sama?" asked Hidan.

"No. Let me turn her into a puppet," retorted Sasori. Aoi didn't know whether to be frightened or flattered.

"Enough!" thundered Pein. "Since Aoi-san has dreams about us, she might have more, and they might be about the bijuu. She will be considered an ally, since we don't know how to send her back to her world. She will stay in Sasori and Deidara's room."

"What?" asked Sasori, becoming microscopically irritated. "One brat is enough. Why must she stay in our room?"

"Because you two found her. And I doubt it would be wise for her to stay with Hidan and Kakuzu," answered the pierced man.

"What about Itachi-san and Kisame-san, or even Konan-san?" the redhead persisted.

"That's enough, Sasori-san! My decision is final!" Pein looked like he was about to explode with anger.

Aoi wondered why Sasori didn't want her to stay with him and Deidara. Sure, sharing a room with them would be awkward at best, but she wasn't that unappealing, was she?

"Itachi-san, kindly take Aoi-san to her room," said Pein.

"Hn," said the Uchiha.

 _The famous Uchiha 'hn'._ Aoi couldn't help raising an eyebrow.  _I was wondering when he would say that._

"Come along, Aoi-san," said Itachi. He was polite; Aoi had to smile at that. She followed the Uchiha out of the meeting room.

"Itachi-san, what did Leader-sama mean when he said he couldn't send me back?" asked Aoi. What Pein said before had finally dawned on her.

"It means he doesn't know how to get you back to your world; the jutsu didn't have instructions for how to reverse the summoning," he answered.

"Oh." On one hand, Aoi was relieved. She was finally able to interact with people without them calling her a freak. On the other hand, she would miss her parents, and would feel terrible that they would worry about her.  _That's the only downside,_ she thought bittersweetly.  _Besides them, I really couldn't care less if I went back._ However, she also knew she was stuck living with an organization of S-class criminals, and that she had to keep her guard up.  _I can't let myself get too comfortable. But that doesn't mean I have to be completely miserable..._

She stopped thinking when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Itachi, who had his Sharingan activated. The last thing that went through her mind before her vision went black was how she was glad that it was ordinary Sharingan and not Mangekyo. She felt an intense pain in her head before giving into unconsciousness completely.

* * *

"I don't understand why  _she_ has to stay in  _our_  room." Sasori was not happy. He didn't like change, especially when it was abrupt. He and Deidara left the meeting slightly after Aoi and Itachi did; Sasori didn't want the girl messing with his puppets.

"Relax, Sasori-danna," Deidara advised. "She's not that bad, un. She's not that annoying. She only talks when she has something meaningful to say."

"Then maybe you will learn something from her, brat."

Deidara got the hint. He stopped talking before Sasori got really mad.

When the two got closer to their room, Sasori noticed that Itachi was leaning over an apparently unconscious Aoi, holding a hand to her forehead and the other supporting her back. Apparently, Deidara noticed this too since he yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing, Uchiha? Pein-sama said not to harm her. I don't want a lecture for something you did!"

"Calm down, brat," said Sasori. "I'm sure he has a reasonable explanation." He turned to the raven-haired man. "Right, Itachi-san?"

"Hn," grunted the Uchiha. "Pein told me to use Sharingan on her to see her memories, and to also see if she was lying."

"Is she?" asked the redhead.

"No, she is not. She told us everything she knew." Itachi paused for a second and then continued. "It is interesting that she is the one who got sent to us, though."

"What do you mean, un?" Deidara had finally cooled down enough to speak semi-politely to the Uchiha.

Itachi answered, "In her world, she was an outcast. Because she didn't like people and would rather be by herself, reading and drawing, they shunned her. Like where we are, her world is also a cruel place for people different than the social norm. Her own parents are disappointed in her, even though she did nothing wrong. Though she is weak by our standards, she has intelligence, and in her world, she seemed to be extremely resilient."

Sasori looked at the unconscious girl.  _So she's an artist? I wonder what her view on art is._ He narrowed his eyes and continued to think. _She doesn't like people? No wonder she looked so uncomfortable when Tobi hugged her. …Though anyone would._ The redhead pinched the bridge of his nose.  _Why the hell do I care? She's a pathetic, weak girl who couldn't even fit in with her own world._ Aloud, he said, "I'm going to fix the room before she destroys my puppets."

Deidara sighed and shook his head before he reluctantly followed Sasori.

* * *

As Sasori and Deidara left, Itachi laid Aoi on her back, brushing her hair away from her face. He wasn't sure why she had not woken up yet; it had been more than ten minutes since he used the Sharingan on her. Normally, a person would wake up faster.  _Something's wrong. Maybe it's because she doesn't have any chakra._

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. He stood up, and was soon face-to-face with Tobi, or should he say, Madara. The older Uchiha looked down at Aoi, his Sharingan visible though the hole in the mask.

"What do you want, Madara?" Though he was annoyed that his relative had the compulsion to stick his nose into everything, he kept his composure.

"Nothing much," chuckled the masked man. "I just wanted to check on our honorary member. She is an important—yet still untrustworthy—part of Akatsuki now; she will have to be monitored. I wonder though, did she really tell us everything she knows?"

"Yes," said Itachi. "I just searched her mind with my Sharingan, and she was indeed telling the truth."

"Really now?" asked Madara. Itachi could almost see him sneering. "If I find out otherwise—which I'm sure I will—she will be in for a lot of pain." For emphasis, he took a kunai out of a pocket in his cloak and slowly brought it across Aoi's neck, creating a shallow cut. "It would be fun to break her, to show her that this reality is no better than her own, that she is just as disillusioned as everyone else on this pathetic planet."

Suddenly, Itachi felt a rare pang of anger bubble into his throat. Though he kept his voice composed, the venom was there, subtly. "Leave."

"Fine, fine!" he held his hands up. "I will not fight with the mighty  _Uchiha Itachi_."

Itachi narrowed his eyes. Madara was mocking him. But the masked man had backed away. He passed by Itachi, whispering, "If I find out she's been withholding information, she will pay dearly. Goodbye,  _Itachi-san_." Just as soon as he said that, he was gone, disappearing into the shadows.

Itachi let his eyes adjust back into their stoic façade as he picked up Aoi, who was surprisingly very light, and carried her to Sasori and Deidara's room. He opened the door and placed the girl on Sasori's bed. The owner of said bed glared at him from his workbench. "On the floor," he stated.

"She needs to recover from the Sharingan. I think you can handle sleeping on the floor, Sasori-san." After he said this, the Uchiha left, leaving an angry Sasori.

* * *

Deidara was not stupid. When Itachi placed Aoi on his partner's bed, he noticed the shallow cut on her neck.

When the Uchiha left, the blond turned to his partner. "Did you see that, Sasori-danna, un?"

"Hmm? See what, brat?" asked the redhead.

"There's a cut on Aoi-san's neck. That wasn't there before. What do you suppose Itachi did to her?"

"What?" Sasori looked at the girl on his bed. "You're right. But when we left, Itachi said he only used Sharingan on her."

"How do you know he isn't lying, un?" the blond asked darkly. A thought suddenly came to him, and his visible eye narrowed. "What if he, you know, assaulted her?" While he didn't particularly care what happened to the brunette, he knew the entire organization would have to face Pein's wrath if someone screwed up.

"I don't think so; she would look worse than this," replied Sasori. "Plus, you're speaking of Uchiha Itachi, the man who has fewer hormones than a rock. I am not sure why he would want to cut her, though. Frankly, I don't care. She better not be bleeding on my bed." Suddenly having an idea, the redhead roughly picked up the girl and laid her on the floor. "There. Now she can bleed all she wants." Looking at Deidara, he continued, "I'm going back to working on my puppet. Don't even think of bothering me again. I don't care if she's dying of blood loss; you deal with it!" After shaking his head, he furiously walked back to his workbench.

 _What's up with him? He's not usually this angry_. Deidara turned to look at Aoi, starting to think that she was the one causing Sasori's agitation. After a few seconds, he realized that she was still bleeding.  _Shit!_  He got up and—trying not to disturb his partner—got a roll of gauze, scissors, and medical tape from his first-aid kit. He cut a small portion of the gauze and taped it to the girl's neck, covering the wound.  _There._ An idea hit him and he grabbed one of the pillows from his bed, placing it under Aoi's head. It wasn't that he was being courteous, he told himself; he just didn't want to hear her complain about a stiff neck in the morning. He sighed as he walked back to his own bed and started to play with his clay.  _She's certainly making Akatsuki more interesting…not that we needed it._   _It will be fun to see how everything plays out. And if Pein orders us to dispose of her, it would be nice if I could make her into art, so she can die beautifully. I hope she sticks around for awhile, though; she's fun to talk to._ Cracking his neck, Deidara settled himself onto his bed, letting sleep overtake him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> Once again, I made Aoi more reluctant to reveal the information she knew. I also altered some of Kakuzu's and Deidara's lines.  
> Also, Itachi has reasons for keeping the information he discovered to himself.
> 
> EDIT 2012:
> 
> I changed a few characters' (mostly Itachi's and Deidara's) lines so that they are not too friendly/protective over Aoi just yet. They don't know her, and they are S-Class criminals, so why should they care too much about her, at least at this point in the story, XD. I kept Deidara a bit friendlier than the others just because I picture him to be very social. (And since he probably doesn't get a lot of conversation with Sasori besides art debates and arguing, I decided that he'd be Aoi's first ally [well, sort of; I couldn't think of any other word to describe their interactions…XD].)
> 
> Obito's such a little creeper, isn't he! I hope Itachi wasn't too OOC. Just to clear something up: he knows that Aoi didn't say everything, but is saying that she did so 'Madara' wouldn't target her. Too late for that, though…Also, he doesn't know that Tobi is really Obito, so in his parts, he will refer to him as Madara. Pein too; the only person besides Aoi who knows who Tobi really is is Zetsu.
> 
> I have no idea if the Sharingan can see memories, but it can do so much else that I was like, "What the heck?" I think it would be cool, though.
> 
> I also hope I made Sasori mean enough. He seems like the type that doesn't show emotions, but when he does he is tactlessly mean because he is socially awkward. Plus, it's fun to make him mean, XD!


	5. Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> I didn't alter much, but Deidara no longer hides the scars. (It seemed really redundant that he did.) While his backstory (which will be briefly mentioned in the next chapter), might seem oddly placed into the story at first, it will become part of a subplot later on (though it ties in with other aspects of the story, as well).
> 
> /
> 
> EDIT 2012:
> 
> Welcome to chapter four! I edited this one by changing how Hidan freaked Aoi out, and having Sasori be less interested in Aoi.
> 
>  
> 
> This chapter will mostly focus on Aoi and the Akatsuki Artists (my nickname for Sasori and Deidara, lol). The others will appear, but they will not be focused on as much.
> 
> Naruto doesn't belong to me (Do I even have to say this?)

-Chapter Four: Pain-

Sasori watched as both Aoi and Deidara slept. How he envied them; they could sleep soundly while it took him forever to give into unconsciousness. Maybe it was because he was a puppet, but he could remember always being this way. The redhead decided that it was just a part of who he was. That didn't mean he was any less aggravated, though. He sighed and switched positions yet again. When he couldn't fall asleep, he turned on the small lamp he used to read with and started looking around the room. For some reason, he found himself staring at Deidara. The blond slept on his side, his face completely innocent with sleep. (A fact which made the puppeteer internally snicker.) He also noticed something odd, though.

He got up and walked over to the bed next to his. A closer look confirmed it. There was a long scar on the side of Deidara's neck. Sasori never noticed it before because his partner's long hair always covered it. The redhead narrowed his eyes. Deidara had never gotten a neck injury on any of his missions. Plus, this scar looked pretty old.  _What happened to him?_ He shook his head, annoyed with himself.  _Why the hell do I care? He probably fucked up some mission back in Iwa._  Though his brain told him to ignore the scar and read a book, his body moved on its own accord and pulled back Deidara's blanket, revealing his exposed back. He already knew there were some fading scars on it; he had seen the younger man shirtless on numerous occasions. However, the blond didn't brag about them like he boasted about everything else. His eyes narrowing, he put the blanket back into its original position and climbed back into his bed, turning off the lamp. He didn't know what Deidara's past was; he never cared to ask him. But judging by the age of the scars, he would estimate that he sustained the injuries when he was much younger. And on top of that, the shape of the scars was too precise to be from an accident.  _It looks like he was tortured at some point. Maybe he was captured by an enemy_. The thought wasn't that surprising; almost all ninja had at least a few scars. But something in his gut told him that more.  _I must be really desperate for sleep if I'm focusing on_ this,  _of all things._  He closed his eyes and tried to get his thoughts to stop swarming around his head. Somehow, the puppet master eventually fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Aoi woke up thinking that she had a bizarre and eerily realistic-feeling dream. When she opened her eyes, however, she saw that she was not in her bed, but lying on the floor of an unfamiliar room. She started to panic, but then realized where she was when she saw Deidara sleeping.  _That's right; this wasn't a dream after all._  She had the remnants of a headache, and remembered that Itachi used his Sharingan on her.  _Damn Uchiha!_ The brunette brought a hand to her neck when she felt a slight pain there. She felt the medical gauze, and wondered what had happened to her after she passed out.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when a voice snapped, "Well, girl, aren't you going to say something, or are you going to just going to stare at the air like a corpse?"

Aoi looked at Sasori, trying not to wince at his tone. "I am so sorry, Sasori-san. I was just wondering what happened to my neck."

"I do not know, and neither does my partner. Itachi-san brought you into our room last night; when he left, you were bleeding," the redhead replied.

"Did you bandage me? If so, you did a good job," asked Aoi, looking in the mirror on one of the artists' dressers.

Sasori shook his head. "The brat put that on you." He tilted his head, and looked to see if Deidara was still asleep before speaking again, this time in a quieter tone. "Do you know what Deidara's past was?"

Aoi was surprised. The puppet master rarely said his partner's name, nor did he use it respectfully when he did.  _Why does he want to know? He usually wouldn't care._ Aloud, she said, "I do not; his was one of the few pasts I have no knowledge of. Why did you ask?"

"No reason." Sasori turned away from the brunette, his expression unreadable. Clearing his throat, he said, "If you want some new clothes, I can take you to Konan-san's room. She will lend you some of hers. Then she will take you to breakfast."

"Sasori-san, I don't think Konan-san's clothes will fit me. They'll be way too big, which will be a hindrance since they're tight-fitting." Aoi didn't mention it, but she also knew Konan's outfit choice was more revealing than she was used to, and would like to avoid it if possible. "Do you think…I could borrow some of your clothes…since you're the member closest to my height?" he felt stupid for even asking, but she knew she needed more suitable clothes. The brunette turned away from the puppet master in embarrassment.  _Why the hell did I ask him that? He probably thinks I'm some sort of weird creeper now!_

"I guess that will be all right," said Sasori, narrowing his eyes at her posture. "What is with you?"

"Umm, well," Aoi paused, trying to figure out what to say.

She didn't have to; Deidara broke the silence when he fell out of his bed. Once he hit the floor, his eyes snapped open. Sasori looked incredulously at the blond, eyes narrowed.

Without speaking, he glared at both of his roommates and stood up. After cracking his back, he walked to his dresser, got his clothes, and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

"Is he always so charming in the morning?" Aoi commented dryly.

"What do you think?" sighed Sasori, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Aoi presumed the bomber's attitude was contagious; she suddenly felt tired enough to be irritable. But before she could think of a snappy comeback, she was startled when she felt something tap her shoulder. Reminded of what happened with Itachi the night before, she flinched and closed her eyes.

"What is the matter with you?" asked Sasori. "I only wanted to give you the clothes you wanted." He held out a shirt and a pair of standard Akatsuki pants.

"Thanks," she muttered, taking the clothes from his outstretched hands. She was still embarrassed by her now-instinctive reaction to a nonthreatening gesture, so she didn't meet the redhead's eyes.

"You can change when the brat gets out. Then he and you can go to breakfast."

"Okay." Aoi nodded, knowing that Sasori didn't eat. A few seconds later, Deidara walked out of the bathroom, hair nicely combed and tied up in its usual half-ponytail.

"Bathroom's all yours, girl," stated Sasori. "I want to work on a special puppet, so the sooner you are changed, the sooner you and the brat can leave for breakfast. I am a very impatient man, so  _hurry up_."

Aoi nodded, not liking the look on the puppet master's face. She hurried into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She was sure Sasori was too wrapped up in his own interests to peek, but she wasn't so sure about Deidara. Knowing that the longer Sasori waited, the angrier he would get, the brunette quickly stripped off her old clothes, only leaving on her tank top and underclothes. She slipped the pants on first. They were a bit long and wide, so she cuffed them even more and tied the belt that came with them as tight as it could go. Satisfied with that, she put on the shirt. It was loose, but then again, it was a man's shirt. Running her fingers through her hair, she shrugged; it looked the best it could be without the help of a brush. She remembered that Deidara used one, so she looked around, finding one on the sink. She quickly brushed her hair and walked out of the bathroom.

Sasori's eyes were narrowed while Deidara looked like he was about to laugh. "You're wearing Sasori-danna's clothes," snickered the blonde, unable to hold in his laughter.

"What's so funny?" asked Aoi.

"Shouldn't you be wearing something a bit more feminine, un?" Deidara smirked.

"Yeah, well Konan-san is the only woman here, and her clothes probably wouldn't fit. Plus, these are more comfortable than the skirt-and-leggings combo the women here always wear," retorted Aoi. "And you're one to talk, Mr. I-Wear-a-Midriff-Shirt." Biting her lip, she stopped herself from continuing, hoping the blond would let the comment slide.

"Will you two shut up and leave already? You're starting to make me angry," said Sasori, looking dangerously irritated.

"Fine, fine. We'll leave, un. Come along, Aoi-san."

The two walked out of the room, not wanting to stick around to see the redhead truly angered. Aoi was grateful that the threat of Sasori's wrath distracted Deidara from her tactless comment; she did not want to get on his bad side, especially since he seemed to be the closest thing to an ally she had.

* * *

Sasori sighed as the two left, closing the door behind him. What he told them was true, he  _did_  want to work on a puppet, but before that, he wanted to see what was in Aoi's bag. He had found it in the meeting room after the girl left the night before, so he brought it to his room to give it back.

He dumped the contents of the bag out on his bed. His eyes quickly perused the jewel, purse, and some sort of textbook (which was written in an unfamiliar language), but lingered on the sketchbook. He remembered Itachi saying that she was an artist, and was curious about her work. He flipped open the sketchbook to see a portrait of Kisame staring back at him. He begrudgingly gave the brunette's work credit, noting how she got his pointy-toothed smirk just right. The redhead flipped through the rest of the sketchbook, admiring (though he would never admit it aloud) every drawing of his fellow Akatsuki members. He was puzzled when he saw the singe marks on the bottom of the Deidara one, but figured that Aoi was going for some sort of effect. However, his eyes narrowed further when he got to the last drawing. It was a portrait of himself. He allowed himself to be impressed; she got his usual expression nearly spot-on, adding just the right amount of boredom and slight irritation to make it look like the redhead was staring at a mirror.  _If she somehow preserved these, they would last forever. They'd become eternal. True art._ He quickly closed the sketchbook when he heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" he asked, hoping that it wasn't Aoi; he didn't want her to know he was going through her belongings.

"It's Itachi," said the voice. "I need to talk to you, Sasori-san."

"Come in," the puppet master reluctantly replied.

The door opened, and the raven-haired man walked in. He shut the door as soon as he was in the room, saying quietly, "Can I ask you to do a favor for me?"  
"What sort of favor?" Sasori was suspicious. It wasn't like the Uchiha to act this way.

"I need you to look after Aoi-san. Make sure she's comfortable here." Itachi paused for a second, then continued. "I also need you to keep her away from Tobi."

Sasori's eyes narrowed. Something was wrong. "Why Tobi? He seems to be the person least likely to harm the girl."

"Aoi-san scratched her neck when she fainted from my Sharingan. Tobi likes to hug; I don't want the wound reopening."

The redhead's eyes narrowed even more. The Uchiha was lying; he was sure of it. The cut on Aoi's neck looked too clean to be a simple scratch. The line was too perfect; it had to have come from a kunai. But, he needed something from the raven-haired man as well. "Very well. I will watch her, and make sure Tobi doesn't bug her. However, there is something I must ask of you, Itachi-san. Can you look at Deidara's memories?"

If the Uchiha was surprised, he didn't show it. "Very well, it will be difficult, seeing that he has a grudge against me, but I will do it as soon as I can. I too have been curious about his background." He paused, looking like he was going to cough, though he held it in. "I'll see you at breakfast," he continued, leaving the room and a very suspicious Sasori.

* * *

Itachi wasn't lying when he said he was interested in Deidara's background. One didn't think bombs were art for no reason, after all. He was intrigued by Sasori's apparent curiosity, though. While his mind was on the redhead, he was also relieved that he convinced him to watch over Aoi. Since the ex Suna-nin didn't know Tobi's true identity, the masked man would keep up his immature façade around the puppet master.

When he got to the kitchen, he saw that Aoi looked to be laughing about something with Kisame, and that Hidan was laughing along with them.

"Oi, Itachi, did you see this? Aoi's dressed in men's clothes!" He took another glance at the girl and laughed even harder.

"Come on, Hidan-san, Aoi-chibi looks really cute!" Itachi's eyes narrowed at the sound of Tobi's voice. "Aww, look! She's blushing!" The masked man put a gloved hand under her chin and tilted it up towards his face. The brunette squeaked in either surprise or discomfort. "Hear that, Hidan-san? Aoi-chibi squeaked! Isn't that adorable! Tobi sure thinks so!"

"Yeah, well Hidan sure thinks so too," said Hidan, a strange look in his eye. "Come over here, Aoi-chan."

Itachi didn't like where this was going, but he let Hidan grab Aoi's arm anyways, just so she could be away from the older Uchiha.

"What? Don't you like me, Aoi-chan?" asked Hidan, pulling the girl closer when she tried to squirm away. "Come on; people would kill to be in your shoes. Or be killed!" The man laughed at his own morbid joke, his cackling loud enough to make almost everyone grimace.

"I-I'm sorry, Hidan-san, you're too close," stuttered the brunette.

"Aww, you're scared, aren't you?" stated the silver-haired immortal. "That's what I want to see!" Suddenly, he pulled Aoi onto his lap and grabbed a knife from a pocket in his pants. Smirking, he brought it up to the now-trembling girl's face, just below her left eye. "I bet your blood will be sweet."

Before Hidan could make a cut, he abruptly dropped the knife onto the table and looked at the person who just entered the room.

"What is the meaning of this?" the voice wasn't yelling, but the venom in it was clear.

Hidan let go of Aoi and faced the speaker. "Sorry, puppet fucker." He rolled his eyes. "I was just having some fun. Lighten up."

"I would 'lighten up' if you didn't look like you were about to kill the one person Pein-sama ordered to be untouchable," retorted Sasori.

"Are you stupid? It wasn't like I was actually gonna do a ritual. At least not yet..." The last part was mumbled, though it was still audible.

"It's okay Sasori-san. I know he was teasing." Aoi muttered, her face red. The fear in her eyes was still evident, though.

"Nice going, stupid!" Kisame slapped Hidan on the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for, you bastard?" Said immortal glared at the Kiri-nin, looking ready to attack him.

Before Hidan or Kisame could get into the fight that they clearly wanted to start, Zetsu phased through the wall. "Can you please  **shut the hell up?** We're trying to eat in peace, here!  **Why do you think we eat in the common room?"**

That made everyone stop what they were doing; no matter how many times the bi-colored man phased through walls, all the Akatsuki thought it was strange.

"Sasori-san, can you take me back to my room? I'm finished," Aoi asked quietly.

The redhead nodded, and the girl quickly ran behind him as he started walking. "Have a good day, everyone," she said pleasantly, though her eyes said otherwise. They were dull and fixed on the floor.

After they left, Tobi broke the silence. "That was fun! You should mess with Aoi-chibi more, Hidan-san! Did you see her face?"

"Shut the fuck up, Tobi!" A slap to the back of the head quieted the masked man.

He was about to add something else when Deidara walked into the room. "What was all that about, un?" he asked. "I just went downstairs to get some more pancake mix and I hear all this noise."

"Hidan-san tried to cut Aoi-chibi's face, Deidara-senpai!" Tobi sang cheerfully. "Aoi-chibi didn't like it and her face turned all red, so Sasori-san yelled at him! Tobi thought it was cool!"

"What?" Itachi noticed his grip get tighter on the box he held. "Why the hell would you do that? She's awkward around people, if you hadn't noticed, un. Do you want to jeopardize everything?"

"No, I didn't notice, 'un'." Now Hidan was just mocking the Iwa-nin. "I thought she was going to be like any normal bitch."

"Tobi didn't tell Deidara-senpai the best part: it looked like Hidan-san was trying to cop a feel!"

"What the fuck, Tobi? All I did was pull her onto my lap. It's not my fault if her chest got in the way when she was squirming!"

Now Deidara looked like he was ready to strangle Hidan. "Now you're telling me that you tried to grope her, un? She's probably going isolate herself from everyone here, and we'll never find out any more information about our futures. Sasori no danna and I have to go after the Ichibi soon; I want to know as much information as possible."

"You could always try to use your charm to make her fall for you, and you can manipulate the information from her that way." Hidan smirked. "Oh wait, never mind, I don't think she likes  _women_!"

"That's it!" Deidara ran at the immortal, punching him squarely in the nose. He grinned as he heard it break.

"You're fuckin' dead!" yelled Hidan, holding a hand over his bloody nose, the other one grabbing Deidara's shirt.

Before this could escalate further, Itachi quickly stepped in between them. Now was his chance, while Deidara's guard was down.

"What the hell, Itachi! Get out of the way!" The blond looked at the Uchiha, who activated his Sharingan. "Wait, what are you—" Before he could try to block the genjutsu, he fell under its spell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> I added some more dialogue between Deidara and Hidan.  
> I know Dei's left eye is trained to counter genjutsu, but he was caught off-guard, not to mention Itachi stared into his visible eye, which is the right one which, to my knowledge, isn't as trained in that aspect.


	6. Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> This one wasn't changed a lot; I just added and omitted some dialogue.  
> And like I mentioned before, though Deidara's past might seem like a strange addition to add at this point, it will come into play later.
> 
> /
> 
> EDIT 2012:  
> I re-worked a lot of the phrasing to make this sound like my current writing style. I also changed some of Deidara's backstory. (I am combining his canon backstory with one that I created.) This means that he won't have the mouths on his hands and chest until he steals the kinjutsu scroll. However, since he does have the Explosion Release kekkei-genkai, his chakra still has explosive qualities. (He just can't create 'living' sculptures [like his birds, spiders, centipedes, etc.] until he gets his extra mouths.)

-Chapter Five: Questions-

As soon as Itachi looked into Deidara's eyes, he felt himself being sucked into the blond's mind. When the Iwa-nin was completely unconscious, he whispered through his thoughts, "What is your past in Iwagakure?" There was a small groan from the bomber, meaning that he was resisting the Uchiha's genjutsu. Itachi repeated his question, mentally shouting it instead of whispering like he did previously. Once again, it did not work. Puzzled, Itachi opened Deidara's visible eye and stared into it, repeating his question once more. This time, it worked, and he was pulled into one of the blond's memories.

 _"You worthless piece of shit! This is the third time you stayed after school without telling me! I prepared a nice dinner for you, but you missed it,_ again! _" The voice belonged to a tall, black-haired man, face contorted with rage._

_"I-I'm sorry, Father! I didn't mean to, un! I was working on a special project! I must've lost track of the time!" A small, blond child cowered in a corner of the living room._

_"A 'special project'? Probably one of your worthless sculptures you're always creating!"_

_"It is special, un! Don't mock my art!" the blond's eyes narrowed, all trace of the stutter gone._

_"And that damn speech impediment! What the hell is wrong with you?" roared the man. "I'm glad I'm not your father! Too bad you didn't get killed in that robbery with your parents! You're worthless, Deidara!"_

_Tears pricked at the boy's eyes but he blinked them away and clenched his fists, anger and fear displayed on his face simultaneously. "Then why did you adopt me, if you didn't want me?"_

_"What do you think?" the man retorted coolly, looking condescendingly at his 'son'. "I got a hefty sum from the orphanage because they were desperate to get rid of you. Your kekkei-genkai is a dangerous one, after all." He leaned in closer, making the boy flinch. "They said you'd be a talented shinobi one day, and your grades are promising, but all you want to do is_ sculpt _! Do you know how many times your teacher approached me and said you skipped class to sculpt in the art supply closet at the academy? You're making a fool out of me! You're a disgrace to me, your dead parents, and the entire village of Iwagakure! You are nothing!"_

_The tears Deidara tried so desperately to suppress finally started to fall, and the man noticed this. "Oh, so now you're crying? Be a man! You already look enough like a girl with that long hair of yours!" He suddenly lunged forward, grabbing the blond's hair and pulling it so Deidara looked at him. "You're pathetic!" he spat, dragging the boy by his hair and slamming him against the wall. He let go when Deidara sank to the floor, shuddering. When he tried to run out of the room, the man grabbed his arms and harshly pulled them behind his back. "You won't be creating any art for a long time!" he smirked, placing his foot against his back. With one jerk he pulled the blond's arms further back while simultaneously kicking him forward. There were two popping sounds as both his arms dislocated from his shoulders. Deidara let out a gasp of pain as the man let go of him, more tears streaming down his face._

Itachi felt sick. He wanted to look away, but found that he couldn't, physically and mentally.

_The man grabbed Deidara by his hair once more and drew a kunai from his vest pocket. "I'm going to put you out of your misery!" he hissed, sliding it across the side of his neck. Before he could finish the cut, the blond kicked out, striking the man's ankle. He tried to cut Deidara's neck again, but the boy succeeded in twisting out of his tormentor's grasp. The man retaliated by slashing his weapon down the blonde's back three times. Using what little strength he possessed, Deidara ran up the stairs to his room. He found his bag of clay and grabbed a piece of it with his mouth, since his arms were of no use. He spat the clay into one of his hands, and, though it was painful, forced himself to transfer some of his chakra into it. With a last burst of adrenaline, he tossed the wad of clay into his room just as the man burst through the door. Jumping out the open window behind him, Deidara forced his fingers to form a hand sign. "Katsu," he whispered, landing painfully on his knees. He heard the clay explode, and saw his room burst into flames…_

Itachi found himself standing in the kitchen of the Akatsuki lair.

"Damn, what was that for, Uchiha? I wanted to pound the little bastard for breaking my nose!" Hidan glared at him, a hand still on his bleeding nose.

 _Only a second had passed in reality,_ thought the raven-haired man. He looked at the semiconscious Deidara and decided that even though they would never be friends, he understood the bomber more. "Can someone put Deidara-san on the couch in the common room? He should wake up soon."

"We'll do it, Itachi-san," said Zetsu's white half.

" **Yes,** " replied his darker half. " **He looks delicious.** "

The bi-colored man smacked himself in the back of the head. "Idiot!"

 **"Jeez, sorry!** " Once his two halves stopped arguing, Zetsu picked up the blond and brought him into the next room. After he was finished, he phased through the wall.

"Well, I think breakfast is fuckin' over now," Hidan stated. "Kisame, it's your turn to do the dishes."

"Why me?" asked the shark-nin. "You started all of this!"

"It doesn't matter!" said Itachi, who was starting to get a headache. " _Both_  of you do it!"

The two knew better than to argue with the Uchiha. They nodded and started to clear the table.

 _Now, to find Sasori,_ he thought, leaving the kitchen.

* * *

Sasori watched as Aoi sat on his partner's bed, drawing in her sketchbook. He was technically supposed to be working on one of his puppets, but he couldn't help but stare. Her movements were graceful, the pencil moving in both long and short strokes across the page. Her face was narrowed in concentration, her eyes focusing on nothing but the drawing in front of her. Recognizing the expression—being a fellow artist, he knew he looked the same whenever he was working—he turned back to his puppet, pouring all his focus into it.

"Sasori-san?" Aoi asked, putting her drawing down.

"Look, girl," the redhead said, choosing his words carefully. "Hidan was just toying with you. He didn't mean anything by it." He was only half-paying attention; he was much too focused on his puppet to really care about anything else.

"I know that," said the brunette, rolling her eyes. "It just caught me by surprise, that's all. No one's ever wanted to be in such close contact with me before. I actually should be flattered. But, I think I'm going to stay away from Hidan-san for awhile. I don't really like people getting that close to me."

"Why?" the puppet master found himself asking.

"I'm not used to it. I've been alone for so long; now I'm just awkward towards people."

"What about your parents?" asked Sasori.  _Shut up already! Why should you care about her stupid life? She's nothing; her thoughts don't matter._

Aoi sighed. "They're nice, but they don't understand me. All they see is an outcast. They can't understand why I don't like to be around others or why I like to draw. After a while, they just gave up on me. They're so disappointed they didn't get a normal daughter." Her voice turned cold at that sentence, and Sasori noticed her eyes were filled with loneliness. "I'm actually better off here," she continued. "All of you give me more attention than I ever got in my world. It's actually kind of funny." She paused, a steely glint appearing in her eyes. "I'm not stupid; I know the only reason I'm still alive is because Pein-sama thinks I might see more of your futures. I'm just a tool for Akatsuki, ready to be thrown away when I get dull. But you know what? I'm okay with it. At least here, my life has some meaning."

When she laughed, it wasn't a pleasant sound. It was hollow, and didn't sound right coming out of her mouth. Sasori understood too well, though, that loneliness cut deeper than any weapon ever could. The redhead knew that behind her unassuming facade, she was splintering.  _We're a lot alike_ , he thought, narrowing his eyes.

"Can I ask you something, Sasori-san?" Aoi asked, the icy expression and tone gone, her usual soft voice taking its place.

"Go ahead, but make it quick, I hate waiting." That came out as more of a snap than he intended, but he didn't apologize; the girl was messing with his emotions, and he wasn't sure he wanted them back.

The brunette nodded. "I just thought of this a few moments ago, when I saw that you have a bed. How do you sleep?"

"What kind of question is that?" snapped the redhead.  _The brat asked the same thing when he figured out what I am._

"Well, I thought since you were a puppet and you didn't eat, you didn't need sleep either," answered Aoi.

"Of course I need sleep; my heart is still human, you know," barked Sasori. "It gets fatigued after awhile. You should know that since you know everything about me!"

The redhead supposed he had gone too far, but he didn't really think anything of it. However, the girl went silent and looked down at her feet, obviously embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like such a know-it-all before. I don't know everything about you."

Sasori answered hesitantly. "It's okay…Aoi-san."  _There, I said her name._

Someone knocked on the door, and both Aoi and Sasori looked up.

"Itachi-san," explained Sasori. "He's the only one—besides Kakuzu—who's polite enough to knock." To the door he said. "You can come in, Itachi-san."

The door swung open, revealing the raven-haired Uchiha. "I found out about what you asked me this morning." He walked into the room and shut the door

"Good," nodded the redhead. He looked at Aoi. "Can she stay?" The girl just looked at both of them, confused.

"She might as well," answered Itachi. "I don't think it's a good idea for her to be roaming the base alone. She might get lost."

 _No, that's not it. There's something else,_ thought Sasori.

"What are you talking about?" asked Aoi.

"The brat's past. You should probably shut up and listen to Itachi-san," snapped the puppet master.

"Deidara-san had a rough childhood, though I know it's quite common," said Itachi, his voice quieting. "His parents were killed in some sort of robbery, and he ended up living with a man who beat him every time he was late coming home from school, and hated him because of his kekkei-genkai and hobbies. One night, after he was late again, the man tried to kill him. Deidara-san escaped and ended up killing the man by blowing up his room."

"How old was he?" asked Sasori, his voice betraying no emotion.

"He looked to be about eleven," replied the Uchiha.

The puppet master nodded. "Thank you, Itachi-san."

Itachi leaned closer to him and whispered, "I presume you'll keep your part of the deal?"

"Fine," said the redhead. He looked at Aoi, who returned to her drawing. "Why are you so intent on protecting her?" This was whispered.

Itachi said nothing, only narrowing his eyes. "Goodbye, Sasori-san," he finally said, breaking the small stare-down he had with the puppeteer. He nodded once more before leaving the room.

* * *

After he left Sasori, Itachi walked to Pein and Konan's room. He had to talk to them about something strange he saw the night before. When he got to their room, he knocked on the door. "Pein-sama, Konan-san? May I come in?"

"Enter, Itachi-san," stated Pein.

Itachi walked into his leader's room. Konan was sitting on her bed, reading a scroll, while Pein was sitting at his table, going over some paperwork.

"I discovered something interesting last night," said the raven-haired man.

"What is it, Itachi-san? Does it have something to do with Aoi-san?" asked Pein.

"Hn," answered Itachi. "I was walking down the hallway by Tobi ,er, Madara, and Zetsu-san's room when I heard the former speaking. When I looked into his room—without him noticing me, of course—I noticed that Zetsu-san was not there and that Madara was speaking to some sort of bird. He said something to it about Aoi-san having no chakra, and being "perfect" for something. I didn't want him to see me, so I left before I could hear anything else."

"So you are saying that Madara is in contact with someone outside the Akatsuki, and this person wants Aoi-san for something?" asked Pein.

Itachi nodded.

"I don't like it. What should we do?" asked Konan.

"I already asked Sasori-san to keep an eye on her," answered Itachi. "Deidara-san will also probably look after her, since he seems to like her."

"I will look after her as well," decided Konan. "I will watch her from the shadows, and come to her aid if she needs it."

"Good thinking, Konan-san," said Pein. "Aoi-san will probably feel most comfortable with you, since you are also a woman. You should start to talk to her at lunch today."

The blue-haired origami artist nodded. "Do you want me to try to find out more info about Madara's mysterious contact?"

"Yes," replied the pierced man. "But please, do be careful, Konan-san. I would hate to lose you."

Konan nodded again, and Itachi felt slightly relieved. But something was still nagging at the back of his mind.

* * *

Obito narrowed his eyes as he listened to Pein, Itachi, and Konan discuss what to do to protect Aoi from him.  _It's rather hilarious. They think that they're controlling everything, when in actuality I am pulling the strings. Though _I must thank Zetsu for his assistance._  _The older Uchiha chucked. He had known Itachi was by his door when he was talking to his contact's bird, who recorded everything. He didn't care if Itachi had seen him and the bird; he knew he'd never discover who he was contacting. Not until it was too late.  _Plus, it's fun to mess with people._ He thought of Deidara, whom he loved to torment with his Tobi persona.  _Especially him. I love toying with his_   _mind_. He thought of what he had planned and smirked beneath his mask.  _Soon. It will all happen soon._ Unlike Sasori, Obito was patient. He would wait until the time was right…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> In response to Obito, haha, yeah right. You think you're controlling everything? Black Zetsu would beg to differ.
> 
> /
> 
> EDIT 2012:
> 
> Once again, I edited a lot of the phrasing to make this sound more like my new writing style. I also made Sasori a lot more apathetic towards Aoi, and Itachi being less protective. (However, he still is a bit protective, but only because he doesn't trust 'Madara'.)
> 
> I added some extra dialogue between Aoi and Sasori to show that Aoi knows that the only reason she's still alive is that she is useful to the Akatsuki at the moment.
> 
> I also changed Deidara's backstory so that it matches up more with his canon one.
> 
> Because Deidara trained his left eye to counter genjutsu, I made it harder for Itachi to successfully use the Sharingan on him.
> 
> I edited Obito's part as well. I'm pretty sure he doesn't like his contact (whom I'm pretty sure all of you know, since you've probably read this before, in the original story), but he allied himself with them because he has a plan, and he's trying to manipulate everyone.


	7. Suspicions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> Just fixed up some dialogue for this one. I also changed the dates to match the 2012 calendar, rather than the original 2010 one the story first started out as.
> 
> Also, just as a side-note, while it is 2012 in Aoi's world, it's obviously not 2012 in the Narutoverse. (At least, I don't think their world is that far into future...) Only the dates match up. (So, though, in this chapter, it is November 26th in the Narutoverse, it might not fall on the same day as it does in Aoi's world, even though it is Nov 26th there, too.) This sounds really confusing, doesn't it? Whoops, XD.

-Chapter Six: Suspicions-

A week had passed since Aoi had been summoned to the Akatsuki lair. She was starting to feel at home with the S-Class missing-nin, and was surprised (and a bit disturbed) at the fact. Yes, she liked the Akatsuki, but she'd never imagined she'd feel comfortable around anyone, especially not a group of murderers. Sure, she was still very wary around Obito, but as long as he kept up his Tobi persona around her, she was fine with him. She considered Deidara and Sasori to be the closest thing to allies, though they (and by 'they', it was mostly Deidara) mostly spoke to her only when she spoke to them first. However, she wasn't completely miserable. In fact, she found that she was more comfortable here than in her own world. She was, in a strange way, content.

The brunette was sitting on the floor in her, Deidara's and Sasori's room, drawing yet again. Something dawned on her, and she put her pencil down and closed the sketchbook. "Hey, Sasori-san? What day is it today?"

The redhead looked up from working on his puppet. "It is November 26th. Why do you ask?"

Aoi's eyes slightly widened. "November 26th? That means…I missed Thanksgiving."

Sasori merely raised an eyebrow, which prompted Aoi to give a better explanation. "It's a holiday where someone's entire family gets together to eat a huge meal and be thankful for the year. It's on the last Thursday of November, which was the twenty-second. Four days ago. Though I wouldn't have missed much; I would have celebrated it with just my parents this year." She laughed hollowly. "My birthday was also yesterday. I'm eighteen now."

"You are upset? I thought people were supposed to be happy on their birthday," asked the puppeteer, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I've never cared for my birthday. It's the same thing every year: my parents and I go out to dinner, and afterwards I open some gifts that I never even want. In a sense, instead of being homesick, I'm relieved that I can finally have a birthday where I can just do what  _I_ want to do."

"Which is?"

"I just want to stay here and draw. It's relaxing,"

Sasori curtly nodded. The brunette realized that he probably knew the feeling, since he loved to work on his puppets so much.

Aoi went back to drawing, while the redhead went back to working on his puppet. The peaceful silence was broken when Deidara walked out of the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him. He was wearing nothing but his Akatsuki pants, and his hair was still wet from the shower he just took. Aoi shook her head at the loudness before focusing back on her sketch.

"Like what you see?" joked Deidara, wearing his ever-present smirk.

Aoi didn't answer; she was too busy trying to get the eyes of her piece to look symmetrical.

"Come on, Aoi-san! Don't make me miss dinner." Deidara hastily threw on a shirt before tying up his hair. "Kisame's making it tonight; it should be better than the crap Hidan usually cooks for us, un."

"Where's Hidan-san?" Aoi asked. She hadn't seen the immortal for awhile, and was curious about where he was.

"Oh, he and Kakuzu-san are on a mission right now," the blond answered. "They're just gathering information and money, so I doubt they'll run into any trouble. And if they do, it would be Hidan's fault for acting stupid, un. Sometimes I wish Kakuzu-san would just sew his mouth shut."

Aoi nodded, gently closing her sketchbook and placing her pencil back into its case.

"Come on, let's go! I don't want all the good food to be gone!" The blond tapped his feet, obviously getting impatient.

"All right, all right!" Aoi rolled her eyes and stood up. Without another word, the two left for the kitchen.

* * *

Once they got there, they saw that Kisame had prepared shrimp and crab.

"It smells delicious!" Aoi tilted her head. "I didn't know Kisame-san could cook."

"Neither did we," responded Deidara. "Pein-sama assigned each of us a day to cook, but since we got lazy, we made Hidan do it just to annoy him. His cooking is shit, though, so I have no idea why we still make him prepare our meals. One day, Kisame no danna got tired of burnt food, so he cooked instead. Let me tell you, his meal was one-hundred percent better than Hidan's."

"Damn right it was." The shark-like man smirked and cracked his neck. "Just don't expect this all the time; I have better things to do than live in the kitchen like a wife."

"I'm glad you chose today to cook," Aoi said quietly, so quietly that Deidara assumed that she was talking more to herself than to Kisame. "I'll have a nice birthday dinner. Well, belated birthday dinner, since it was yesterday."

"It was your birthday? We should celebrate with explosions!" The bomber smiled, itching for an excuse to blow something up.

"If you do, I want to be there for when Kakuzu rips your limbs off because of all the money he'd have to spend on damage repair," Kisame snickered.

Deidara grimaced at the image. The Taki-nin was relatively quiet, but if his precious money was messed with, the best-case scenario was that someone would be severely maimed. He decided that now would be the best time to change the subject. "So your birthday was yesterday, Aoi-chan? Homesick?" He didn't see the brunette display many emotions, and was interested to see her reaction. His smirk drooped a bit when the girl's eyes hardened, making their grey color seem steely.

"Homesick?" she chuckled. "I'm actually not sure. I miss my parents, of course, and my freedom, but everyone else?" She paused, tilting her head. "You probably already know this, but I really wasn't liked in my world. I was the school weirdo, the freak. It's my fault, I suppose, for preferring the arts instead of being obsessed with the latest fashions and the hottest guys." She looked straight into Deidara's visible eye, the intensity of her stare surprising him. "Don't pity me, though; I'm not some whiny damsel in distress, nor some brat looking for attention. I didn't cry over the fact that I didn't have friends, nor did I complain. I embraced the solitude, and used it to advance my artistic skills." She paused, clenching her fists. "As for me being here, I guess it's destiny. I know you really don't care about me, and I should feel the same about you, but I do care. I know too much about you to be apathetic. I might be only a tool for this organization, but I accept my fate." Some of the ice left Aoi's eyes, and she lowered her head.

The blond was, for once, speechless. He expected Aoi to cry, or at least complain that she was celebrating her birthday with a bunch of criminals who didn't give a damn about her, but instead, her response was so…cold. Despite his supposedly-uncaring attitude, Deidara was good at picking up on the emotions of others. He knew that, in contrast to her words, the constant loneliness hurt her deeply.  _She must be desperate for companionship if she's so willing to latch onto_ us _._

"Dinner's ready!" Kisame's voice boomed, shattering the emotionally-heavy moment. Aoi blinked the remaining coldness out of her eyes and cracked her neck.

Soon, everyone who ate walked into the kitchen, and sat in their usual seats: Pein and Konan sat next to each other, Kisame sat across from Itachi, and Aoi was sandwiched between the Uchiha and Deidara. Tobi, of course, sat next to Deidara, while Zetsu sat across from him. Hidan and Kakuzu's seats were empty, reminding Deidara of how much quieter the meal would be without the immortal's constant swearing.

The blond—as well as the rest of the organization—was shocked when he saw Sasori enter the room. He never came to meals; he didn't even have a seat at the table. But the redhead just walked over and sat in Hidan's chair.

"Nice of you to join us, Sasori-san," said Pein. Deidara saw that even his leader was surprised.

"Yes," he said. "I wanted to see what you actually do at meals."

Deidara narrowed his eyes, unsure of what to make of this situation. He started to have an idea, but the notion was so unlike his partner that he dismissed the thought and concentrated on getting the most shrimp he could before Kisame took it all.

After dinner, Sasori decided to go back to his room rather than help clean up. The rest of the Akatsuki—minus Pein and Konan—cleared off the table. Since Kisame cooked the meal, he didn't have to do the dishes this time. Instead, that duty fell on Deidara and Itachi.

 _Great! I'm stuck with Uchiha?_ The blond shook his head angrily.  _I have no luck!_

Neither the bomber nor Itachi noticed that Aoi had left the kitchen, with Tobi leaving after her…

* * *

Aoi really didn't want to get dragged into washing the dishes, so she decided to leave before Deidara and Itachi saw her. She found herself walking down an unfamiliar hallway, and realized that she had made a wrong turn somewhere.

"Looking for your room?" a deep voice asked.

The brunette whirled around, coming face-to-face with Tobi. "W-what do you want, Tobi-san?" she stammered.  _Obito decided to make himself known to me. This is bad._

"Cut the crap,  _Aoi-chibi_ , I know you know who I really am," stated the masked man.

Aoi decided to play dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about. What's the matter, Tobi-san? What happened to your voice?"

Before she could even blink, the older Uchiha had one hand tightly grabbing her neck and the other on her forehead, forcing the back of her head against the wall. "I know you know who I really am, so why don't you stop acting dumb and tell me what else you know. I have a feeling Itachi held back some information he gleaned from you. While he might be good at lying, I could see it in your eyes the moment you started talking. You know all about the bijuu, and my plan."

Aoi shook her head. She told herself that she wouldn't reveal anything to Obito and damn it, she would stick to her word.

The hand around her neck got even tighter, and it was becoming difficult for her to breathe. "I could always use Mangekyo on you," Obito pondered aloud, "but what fun would that be? I want to make you scream in reality, telling me what you know when you can't take the pain anymore."

"Reality? Like when Kakashi killed Rin?" Aoi managed to cough out. She realized she went too far when the slightly bored look in Obito's visible eye twisted into one of pure rage. Before she had time to brace herself for pain, the masked man threw her against the opposite wall. Her head spun, and she found that she couldn't get up.

"I wonder how your leg would break if you fell down the stairs. What would the angle be?" Without hesitating, Obito stomped on her leg, grinding the heel of his foot against the now-broken bone. Aoi screamed, her vision going blurry from the severe pain. She reached her arm out as a weak gesture of defense, but it was kicked away. She screamed again when her leg was moved, feeling the bone poke through her skin.

"Scream all you want," sneered Obito. "This particular hallway is soundproof. Now be smart and tell me everything!"

Even though she was in pain, she shook her head. She didn't want to betray Konan, Nagato, or the jinchuriki.

"Are you masochistic, or are you just stupid?" hissed the older Uchiha. "Pein won't let me kill you, but he said nothing about interrogation."

Aoi still shook her head. She was not going to let herself be the weak captive who ruined her allies' plans because she couldn't take a little torture.

Suddenly, a burst of pain exploded in her stomach, and she realized that Obito kicked her. Coughing violently, Aoi felt her head spinning, and her vision blurring even more.

"It seems as though you're more loyal to Nagato than I thought you'd be." the masked man mused aloud. "I'll try again later."

Aoi felt herself being kicked in the stomach once more before passing out.

* * *

Once Aoi was unconscious, Obito roughly picked her up and carried her into the main hallway. This would have been the perfect opportunity to deliver the girl to his contact, but since he wasn't with the rest of the Akatsuki, he would be placed under suspicion if she were to have disappeared.  _Soon I will get what I asked for. I just need to wait for the perfect moment to send her to him._ The masked man stopped thinking when he reached his destination: the stairs leading up to the storage closet hallway. He carelessly dropped the girl at the foot of them, making sure she was facing the proper way before leaving. Grabbing some towels and a bucket of water from the nearest bathroom, he proceeded to clean up the blood from his unsuccessful interrogation.

* * *

Deidara was annoyed. Not only did he have to do the dishes with Itachi, he also was roped into watching some stupid documentary about sharks with Kisame.  _Then again, everyone else watched it too. Everyone but Aoi._ He was puzzled as to where the girl went; he expected to hear from her sooner. "Hey, Sasori-danna, do you think the girl got lost, un?"

The redhead, who was walking with him, just shrugged. "How should I know?"

The bomber was about to say something else when he saw something,  _someone,_ lying at the foot of a staircase. "What the hell?"

Aoi was unconscious, her leg bent at an impossible angle. Deidara noticed that some of the bone poked through her pants, and that her injured leg was surrounded by a small pool of blood.

"Trust the stupid girl to fall down the stairs and knock herself out." Sasori rolled his eyes, nudging the brunette with his foot.

"I don't know. Would her bone break that severely if she just tripped, un?" Something in Deidara's gut told him that she didn't just fall. He knelt down and picked her up. "I'm taking her back with us."

"Do what you want; just don't bother me."

When the two got back to their room, Deidara placed Aoi on the ground on her back. He wasn't a medic-nin, but he wanted to look at the wound. He rolled her bloodstained pants up to her knee and tilted his head. "Hey, Danna? Could you come over here, un?"

"I told you not to bother me, brat!" Despite his supposed indifference, the puppeteer ended up walking over to the blond. "What is it?"

"From this wound, doesn't it look like someone stomped on her leg, un?"

Sasori knelt down, narrowing his eyes to study the injury. "You are correct. Are you suggesting that someone broke her leg and dropped her by the stairs to make it look like an accident?"

Deidara nodded. "And look at her neck. It's all bruised." He pointed to the dark, finger-shaped marks encircling the girl's throat like a demented necklace. "Isn't she supposed to be our source of information, un? Why did someone want to hurt her if she could be of use to us later?"

"I do not know. All I know is that everyone watched the documentary with us. Everybody but one."

"That's right. Tobi wasn't there. You think that idiot did this?"

Sasori stood back up and shrugged. "He's an honorary member of this organization for a reason; he has to be dangerous. Maybe the childish act is all a façade. Or maybe he thought he was helping us out by trying to interrogate her himself. Whatever the reason, I will bring this up with Pein-sama; I doubt he will be happy that one of his rules was broken. None of us were supposed to harm her."

"Can you at least fix her leg before you go, un?"

"I am not as good of a medic-nin as Kakuzu-san, but I will try." Kneeling back down, he placed his hands on the wound and closed his eyes. Slowly, the bone slipped back into its proper place, though the area still remained swollen. "That's the best I can do, at the moment. She'll have to wait for Kakuzu-san to heal the rest." He shook his head. "Stupid girl."

"I don't think it's her fault, un." Deidara was puzzled as to why his partner was more irritated than usual.

The redhead said nothing, only getting up and sauntering out of the room. He slammed the door behind him, and Deidara just rolled his eyes.  _What a drama queen._


	8. Terror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> Since a lot of the major edits to this were done in 2012, I just fixed some dialogue and removed some lines I was just not happy with.

-Chapter Seven: Terror-

 _Damn it! I was too careless!_ Obito paced across his room.  _Whoever finds her is bound to be suspicious when they see the severity of the wounds. Why didn't I just break her leg cleanly?_ Pausing for a second, he narrowed his eyes.  _No, I needed to try to get her to reveal all that she knew, though it didn't work out as planned._

He pondered about what to do about this dilemma. He knew that once someone put two and two together, they would go to Pein. Despite his blunder, he hoped that Sasori and Deidara were the ones to find her, and, by taking care of her, got closer to her. He knew his contact wanted revenge on the puppeteer.  _And if he finally learns to show emotions around someone, what better revenge would there be than taking away that person and making them suffer?_ He smirked; just like his contact, he was interested in seeing the redhead display emotions other than boredom and mild distaste.  _As soon as Aoi decides she wants to go outside, everything can begin._  While at first, he had no desire to work with his contact, a tip given to him by Zetsu piqued his interest, and led him to make a deal.

He sighed, rehearsing his happy-go-lucky act in his head to prepare himself for when he would emerge from his room. Ever since the girl came to the base, he was finding it harder and harder to conceal his true nature. While he had previously found it fun to irritate Deidara, he now wanted nothing more than to show the Iwa-nin just how powerful he really was, and, just once, beat him senseless. Yes, being 'Tobi' was fun, but he was getting tired of being pushed around by the blond.

Smirking, he put his mask back on.  _I told him she'd want to go outside soon, probably after she recovers. Things are about to get interesting…_

* * *

Deidara was messing with his clay when Aoi finally awoke. She sat bolt upright, wrapping her arms around herself and looked wildly around the room. She didn't know how she got there, but a sense of peace overwhelmed her: she was safe here.

As soon as the blond saw that Aoi had woken up, he got up from his bed and sat on his knees next to her. "So, you're awake. Care to tell me what happened, un? Did you really fall down the stairs? I doubt even you are that clumsy."

Suddenly, the brunette didn't care about hiding Tobi's true nature anymore. She curled herself up, resting her face on her knees. Before she could suppress them, tears fell from her eyes.

"So you  _do_ know how to cry."

"What do you think?" she spat, hating how her voice sounded. "I'm just…scared." The last word was whispered, and her face reddened.  _I'm such an idiot! I should be scared of all of these people, but I'm crying in front of Akatsuki's terrorist bomber, and not because I'm afraid of_ him _!_

"That's sort of the point of our organization," the Iwa-nin pointed out, tilting his head. "All of us are criminals. We wouldn't be successful if we weren't feared. But let's hear it; who scared you?"

"Tobi," she whispered.

"Did  _he_  do this to you?"

The brunette nodded. A fresh wave of pain hit her, and she hissed, grabbing her stomach. "He broke my leg."

"What about the bruises, un?"

"Yeah, those too." She looked at the ground. "I just feel so weak."

"You might be weak, un," replied the blond, his tone for once neutral, "but we Akatsuki are all trained, S-Class shinobi. You don't even have any chakra. It wasn't a fair fight."

Aoi nodded, sleepily. Though she was in pain, she was tired. "Since Kakuzu-san's gone, who fixed my leg? It still hurts, but it's better than before."

"Sasori-danna," answered Deidara. When she looked at him strangely, he continued. "Since he makes human puppets, he needed to know basic human anatomy. He also knows a bit of medical ninjutsu. Not as much as Kakuzu-san, but enough to fix your leg, un."

"Sasori-san," she muttered, her eyes closing.

"What did Tobi want, anyway?" Deidara asked. "Uchiha already scanned your mind."

Even if Aoi wanted to answer, she was too far gone. She only shrugged before falling unconscious once more.

* * *

Sasori walked swiftly to Pein and Konan's room, wanting to get this discussion over with as soon as possible. Without bothering to knock, he threw the door open.

"Sasori-san! What is the meaning of this?" asked Pein, looking up angrily from his paperwork.

"Aoi-san was just tortured by someone." The puppet master tried to sound unbiased, but for some reason, the words came out angrier than he intended.  _What the hell?_

"What do you mean, Sasori-san?" asked the orange-haired man, his eyes narrowing.

The redhead began to explain what had just occurred. When he was finished, Pein stated, "Are you sure it was Tobi? Maybe Aoi-san did fall down the stairs, and broke her leg that way."

"Pein-sama, there were bruises in the shape of fingers around her neck. I doubt those came from a fall down the stairs. Someone grabbed her and held her that way for awhile. And since everyone minus Tobi was in the common room watching Kisame's stupid shark movie, that would make him the logical suspect."

"Okay, okay, Sasori-san, I will talk to him," answered the pierced man. "But I will not have you spreading these accusations around the base. Keep them to yourself."

The puppet master narrowed his eyes.

"I mean it, Sasori-san," Pein warned. "That's an order!"

"Yes, Leader-sama," he muttered, bowing to the orange-haired Akatsuki leader. He knew it was time for him to leave, so he quickly walked out of the room. He let his face drift back into its usual apathetic façade as he walked back to his own room.

When he opened the door, he saw that Aoi was sleeping on the floor, with Deidara sitting in a chair next to her, keeping watch. "Something strange is going on, Sasori no danna. Why would Tobi do this, un?" he asked, gesturing to the sleeping girl. "He's never shown any malicious behavior before, unless you count being generally annoying." He narrowed his eyes, presumably in thought. "The girl nearly had a breakdown when she first woke up; she was terrified. It was actually sort of funny, in a dark way, especially since she's scared of  _Tobi_ , of all people."

"I do not know why, brat. Why are you asking me?" asked Sasori. "When I talked to Pein-sama, he said he would talk to Tobi. However, I don't think he believed me, and told me to keep my suspicions to myself."

"In other words, he's going to get away with this, un." Deidara looked upset, which Sasori found curious.

"What do you suppose he wanted from the girl?" he asked.

"I have no clue," the Iwa-nin replied. "He sure did a number on her, though. Sadistic little shit."

"Says the man whose idea of art is making people explode," countered Sasori.

"I don't prolong their suffering; I kill them fast, un," retorted the blonde.

Aoi whimpered in her sleep, and both stopped arguing.

"I should probably wrap up her injury," stated the puppet master. Deidara nodded. The redhead grabbed a roll of bandages from Deidara's first aid kit and knelt down, slowly wrapping up her leg. "It is not completely healed, but I fixed the worst of it. Most of the pain should be gone; she just shouldn't put a lot of weight on it. Hopefully Kakuzu-san will come back soon; she won't ever have full use of her leg if he returns too late."

* * *

Five days had passed since Aoi was attacked, yet she still wanted to stay in the room. Sasori and Deidara tried to convince her otherwise, even by goading her with taunts, but nothing worked. Besides showering, changing her clothes, and using the bathroom, the brunette barely moved from her spot on the floor.

Deidara was worried that something was wrong with her mind. Her eyes had lost their usual glint, and she rarely spoke. However, he noticed that this particular day was different; a little bit of the life had returned to her posture.

"Deidara-san?" asked Aoi. "Can you take me outside? I want to breathe some fresh air, and I want to draw some landscapes."

"Sure, Aoi-san," replied the blond. "We'll go outside, un. Tobi's not even here today; he went on a mission with Zetsu-san." He was happy that the girl had taken an interest in something, a fact which surprised him. The only other person he would consider a friend was back in Iwagakure, though he left her a long time ago. He thought he had moved past his desire for friends, but he guessed he was wrong.

As she grabbed her sketchbook and pencils, she put her weight onto her bad leg when she tried to open the door. She stumbled a bit before she caught herself, switching her weight to her good leg. "Why can't I walk properly?" she asked, a twinge of worry present in her voice.

"Sasori no danna tried his best, but he couldn't heal your leg fully, un."  _This isn't good; she's starting to lose the use of that leg. If Kakuzu doesn't come back soon, Sasori might be forced to replace it with a puppet leg._

"I understand," said Aoi, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I don't blame Sasori-san, he did what he could." She smiled weakly. "I want to see what I can draw; I haven't sketched in ages!"

* * *

Once the two had gotten outside, Aoi sat under one of the few trees she could find and started to draw the city in front of her. She smiled; she hadn't drawn in awhile, and it felt good. Her mind was distracted from the growing loss of movement in her leg, and the feeling of Obito's hand around her throat. Yes, this was relaxing for her. Deidara had gone ahead, looking for a place to set off his bombs. He thought it would be all right if Aoi was alone, as long as she stayed where she was.

However, the brunette was getting bored. She was finished with her drawing, and wanted to move somewhere else so she could draw something different. She didn't think it would hurt if she went exploring. Despite the fact that Ame was an industrial city, there was a small forest in the back of the base. It had more trees than in the front of the base, and Aoi was fascinated with how the city left this little piece of land intact.  _Well, Pein_ is  _the leader of Ame, so I guess he has control over what buildings go where_.

She looked down when she saw something move past her foot. She let her breath out in relief when she realized it was just a white snake. She was intrigued by the creature and wanted to draw it. She followed it deeper and deeper into the forest. A voice in the back of her head was nagging her to go back to Deidara, but she thought it would be okay if she drew the snake before leaving.

It finally stopped when it reached a clearing, and slithered onto a large rock, presumably to sun itself, like all cold-blooded creatures do. Aoi looked at the snake once more and began to draw it. Suddenly, she heard twigs snapping behind her, and footsteps. Thinking that it was Deidara trying to scare her, she sighed. "I know it's you, Deidara-san; don't think that you can scare me."

She whirled around, ready to see the blond and his trademark smirk, but the man in front of her was  _definitely_ not Deidara. He was much taller, with long black hair and pasty skin. But his most striking feature was his eyes; they looked serpentine, and were the color of warm butterscotch. Her eyes widened. This was a man she feared as equally as Obito.

"Hello, little one," he said, his voice just above a whisper. "Madara told me a lot about you." The snake-like man suddenly grabbed Aoi's bad leg and squeezed it, making her drop to the ground, black forming around her vision. She knew she was going to be taken. As a last-ditch effort, she wrote something on the page with the snake drawing. She bit her thumb, stamping it on the page so Deidara would get the message if he found it.

"Drawing won't help you, you stupid girl," he chuckled, kicking the pencil out of her hands.

"Let me go!" rasped Aoi as the man grabbed her neck and squeezed a certain point on it.

"I don't think so, girl," he said. "Madara traded you for some information on a new jutsu. And since he told me of your…uniqueness, I knew I just needed you to test my newest project. Not to mention all of the information you have about the Akatsuki. You're the perfect specimen!"

Aoi finally closed her eyes, giving into unconsciousness once more.

* * *

As Aoi finally fell limp, the man laughed, licking his lips. "You're the perfect specimen indeed!" When the brunette fell unconscious, he roughly picked her up and swung her over his shoulder. Once he made it out of the forest, he could hear his blond replacement calling out for the girl.  _How sweet._ S _oon, he and Sasori will suffer, if Madara's info is correct._ He smiled cruelly.  _And the girl; she will suffer the most…_ He was glad that he invested in a hideout just outside of Amegakure; it was finally paying off.

* * *

Deidara had looked everywhere for Aoi, and couldn't find her. He had finally started to walk through the forest.  _Maybe she fell asleep while she was drawing in there. Stupid girl; I told her to stay put!_

He stopped when he came to a clearing, seeing Aoi's sketchbook and colored pencils on the ground. However, the girl herself was not there.  _Where could she be?_ He saw that the sketchbook was open. On the page was a beautiful drawing of a white snake, though it was marred by three hastily scrawled words. And a bloody thumbprint.  _Damn! It must be written in her original language!_ He couldn't understand a word of what Aoi had written, and it frustrated him. He looked at the drawing again.  _A white snake? Why does that sound so familiar?_ Then it hit him.  _No. Don't let her be taken by_ him!  _Why is he always involved in everything?_  Even in his thoughts, he spat out the name.  _Orochimaru!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> Once again, only a bit of dialogue has changed, since I edited this one a lot back in 2012.  
> Also, this shows that, while Aoi can understand Japanese and speak it, she can't write it.  
> I know the ending of this chapter was a bit cliche, but it will have its purpose in the story.


	9. Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> I just altered some dialogue. Luckily, I am editing these less and less, since the writing is getting more current.

-Chapter Eight: Nightmare-

Pein sighed as he thought of the conversation he had with Madara five days before…

_"I don't know what you gain from terrorizing the girl," he said._

_"I don't know what you're talking about," stated the masked man._

_"Don't play dumb. Sasori-san came to me tonight and said that you attacked Aoi-san and broke her leg. Why would you do that?"_

_"That stupid puppet is more trouble than he's worth. I just wanted to interrogate the little bitch myself, since I had a feeling Itachi was holding some of his knowledge back." Pein could sense that Madara was rolling his eyes. "Yes, I broke her leg, but it's not my fault she's in so much pain; she's weaker than a genin-in-training."_

_Pein wasn't happy. "Madara, I want you to stay away from her; we want her to help us out, and we can't gain her trust if she's too terrified of us to comply." Before the older Uchiha could object, Pein continued. "Because of this, Sasori-san_ and  _Deidara-san are suspicious of you. Don't you care that your cover could be blown?" He didn't add that he himself was starting to get suspicious of the masked man. "I am sending you and Zetsu-san on a mission to gather more info on the Ichibi. I want to know much more than I do now so that the team I send after it won't die. Plus, I need for everyone to cool down; this tension is starting to affect the performance of this organization."_

_"Fine, fine," said Madara. "I'll go on your mission. When do I leave?"_

_"Tomorrow morning, Madara. You will brief Zetsu-san when you see him."_

_"What, no honorific? I'm offended!" said the masked man. When he saw Pein glaring at him, he turned away. "I'll let Zetsu know, now."_

_The pierced man nodded, opening his door so Madara could leave._

Pein pinched the bridge of his nose. On one hand, he was getting suspicious of Madara, especially from what Itachi had told him and now this incident with Aoi. On the other hand, he couldn't kick him out of the organization; he needed the older Uchiha's power and information for his goal of world domination to succeed. The pierced man sighed again; he felt that he was losing control of the Akatsuki.

Just as he thought things couldn't get any worse, Deidara burst through the door, looking infuriated. "Pein-sama," he said, breathing heavily, as if he ran a great distance, "Aoi-san is gone!"

"What happened?" asked Pein.  _What's wrong_ now?

"I'm not exactly sure, but we were outside and she just disappeared. She left this, though. Tell me if it looks familiar." The blonde held up a drawing of a white snake. Three words were written on top of the drawing, and a bloody thumbprint was hastily stamped below it. "Can you read it?"

Pein fortunately could; the language jutsu he performed on Aoi worked both ways. He was now able to understand her language, just as she was able to understand his. He looked at the page, inwardly groaning.  _First Madara, now_ him?  _Why did he have to get pulled into this?_ Aloud, he said, "The words on the paper are 'Aoi, taken, Orochimaru'."

The Iwa-nin's visible eye narrowed slightly. "I was right," he finally said. "How the hell did he get past our defenses, un?"

"What I'd like to know is how he knew about Aoi-san," added the orange-haired man. He had a growing suspicion Madara had been in contact with the snake sannin, but wasn't completely sure. "I want you to go to Sasori-san and explain what happened. He, you, and Kakuzu-san—once he gets back—will have the job of bringing the girl back here. I don't want her information to fall into the hands of that traitor."

"Yes, Leader-sama," said Deidara, bowing. He then took off running toward his room.

* * *

Deidara clenched his fists, his stomach tightening in apprehension. His suspicions were indeed correct; Aoi had been taken by Orochimaru. He had only met the snake-like man once, right after he had become a member of the Akatsuki. He and Sasori were on a mission when the redhead ran into his former partner. The two had grudges against each other because of an incident with Itachi that caused the sannin to be kicked out of the organization. He remembered that Orochimaru had stared at him with an expression of both malice and hunger on his face. It was a gaze that haunted him to this very day. Later, Sasori had told the blond that the sannin was obsessed with collecting people with rare kekkei-genkai, which he had. Orochimaru had wanted to take him and experiment on him, yet didn't, since the puppet master was present.

Now the same thing was happening to Aoi, and, while his feelings towards her were a little past neutral at best, he wouldn't wish being Orochimaru's captive on anyone. He squinted, wondering what the former Akatsuki member would do to her when he discovered that she had no chakra, and no kekkei-genkai to experiment on. When he reached his room, he threw open the door, eying the room for his partner.

"Brat, what is the matter with you?" the redhead asked, angrily looking up from reading one of his many books on puppetry.

"Aoi-san has been taken by Orochimaru, un."

Sasori dropped the book. He tried to look indifferent, but the bomber could see a look of obvious anger flash across his partner's face, though it only appeared for a second. "How the hell did he get onto the base's grounds?"

"I don't know! Why would he even want her? He'd be able to sense right away that she had no chakra, un!" Deidara paced the room. "Pein-sama said that once Kakuzu-san came back, us three would go on a mission to retrieve her." He paused, looking angry. "She's more trouble than she's worth. Stupid girl." Though his words were sharp, Deidara wasn't blaming Aoi; he was the one who was supposed to keep an eye on her, and he failed. He was angry at himself for not even sensing that Orochimaru was on their land.

"Let's hope he finds something worth testing on her," Sasori said darkly. "I also hope that she has a high tolerance to pain. However, if it comes down to it, I hope she dies on his operating table."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say death is not the worst thing that could possibly happen to her, especially since she is now associated with us," answered the puppet master. "Interrogation, unnecessary torture, scientific experimentation. The list goes on and on. Orochimaru is a sadist; he likes to cause the most pain he can inflict and watch his victims beg for mercy before he kills them. My guess is that he will use any method possible to get information about us from her."

Deidara resumed his pacing, trying to think of various ways to fix this hindrance. "Why don't we just leave right now? Why do we have to wait for Kakuzu-san, un? This could jeopardize the entire organization!"

"You don't think I know that? Because of her, everything is unraveling! But we don't even know where the hell the bastard is," explained the redhead. "My guess is that Leader-sama is doing some research about where his location could be. Plus, we need Kakuzu-san if the girl is seriously injured when we do find her, which she most definitely will be, if she is alive." His eyes narrowed. "Though I don't think she will remain alive once we bring her back, if Pein-sama discovers that she indeed did leak information."

Deidara seemed to deflate, sinking onto his bed. What Sasori said made sense, but for some reason, the thought of the thin brunette dying by one of their own hands upset him more than the thought of her dying by Orochimaru's.  _Probably because I wouldn't even be chosen to do it...Her death would be an inartistic waste._

"Let me tell you this," said the puppet master, eyes gleaming with hatred, "if I get my hands on Orochimaru, he's dead, though it has nothing to do with the girl and her stupidity. I've been wanting to repay him for the betrayal for a long time."

The blond had was surprised to hear the emotion in his partner's voice. "You took the words right out of my mouth. He's dead once we find him!" Ever since he had met Orochimaru's gaze, he wanted to kill him.

* * *

Three days had passed since Orochimaru had taken the girl from Ame. Every time she started to wake up, he would render her unconscious once more. He only stopped to eat and sleep; he wanted to get back to his base as soon as possible. He hated carrying the girl, but he knew the effort would be worth it if his experiment was a success.  _Even if it isn't, I will have much fun watching her suffer through the procedure,_ he thought, smirking.

Once he was finally back at the base, he found his assistant working on installing new cameras to the fighting arena. "Kabuto!" he barked. "I need you to prepare Operating Room Three for the procedure. I have successfully retrieved the specimen."

The bespectacled man nodded and hurried off toward the room.

Once the room was ready, with all of the surgical equipment lying on a silver tray next to the operating table, the snake sannin ordered Kabuto to strap the girl's arms, legs, and torso to said table.

"Do you need me to administer the anesthesia?" asked the silver-haired man.

"No, no," chuckled Orochimaru. "I need her fully awake and aware for this particular procedure."

Kabuto nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Do you need me to wake her up?"

"I will do that," stated Orochimaru, "but first…" he used the kunai in his pocket to cut Aoi's shirt off, followed by the tank top. However, he left her bra still on. "The shirt will only get in the way," he explained.

"What exactly are you doing for this experiment?" asked the bespectacled medic-nin.

"I am going to see if chakra can be implanted into a human body," the snake-like man explained. "Since this girl has none for some reason, she is the perfect test subject." After his assistant nodded, Orochimaru concentrated some chakra into his fingers and jolted the girl awake. "Let us begin," he said.

He smiled cruelly when the girl started to squirm when he brought the scalpel to her skin, and felt his blood rush when he sunk it deep into the skin on the middle of her chest, making her scream in pain. She screamed more as he widened the incision. Every time she would fall unconscious, the snake sannin made Kabuto revive her. After more strokes of the scalpel, he felt the knife scrape against her sternum and realized he had cut far enough. By now, Aoi was coughing from screaming so much, and tears continuously fell from her swollen eyes. As Kabuto wiped away the blood pouring out of the wound, the brunette shook from both pain and fear.

"I need your help for this next step." Orochimaru turned to Kabuto, who tilted his head. "I need you to split her sternum, where I made the incision, wide enough so that I can add this." He held up a small, metal cylinder with a blue disk on the top of it.

"Consider it done." Kabuto's hand glowed blue, and he placed it on top of the wound.

Aoi screamed louder than before, her body arching, trying to escape the pain. Soon, her voice gave out, and her mouth remained open, though her cries were silenced.

"Now comes the interesting part," Orochimaru stated. "Here's where we implant the chakra." He stuck the device into the incision, making sure that it fit into the opening his assistant made in her sternum. Aoi thrashed around, screaming silently. "Kabuto! Hold her down!" he ordered. Once the girl was immobilized, the golden-eyed man made sure that the device was positioned correctly before grabbing what looked like a small welding torch. He turned it on and brought it to her skin, cauterizing it to the metal. He smirked in satisfaction as her eyes widened in obvious agony, tears pouring from them.  _I'm surprised she's still conscious; she doesn't even have the strength of a civilian..._

Afterwards, Orochimaru let Aoi fall unconscious; he was finished with the procedure.  _I hope you survive, Coulter Aoi,_ he thought, stroking her face.  _I want to have more fun with you._ "Kabuto!" he barked. "Take her to Cell Seven!"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," said the medic-nin, un-strapping the girl from the lab table. He roughly picked her up and left the room.

* * *

Once Kabuto reached Cell Seven, he placed her on the ground and chained her to the wall.  _Honestly, I hope you die,_ he thought.  _If you don't, all you'll be in for is more pain. Orochimaru-sama is a_ very  _ruthless man._  He watched the jerky rise and fall of her chest and pondered whether or not to kill the girl to put her out of her misery and add her body to his collection.  _No,_ he decided.  _If I do, Orochimaru would kill me. I'm sorry girl, but I value my life._  He left the cell, locking the door behind him.

* * *

Aoi couldn't move; she was in so much pain. Everything hurt: hands, arms, legs, head. But her chest felt the worst; it felt like it was on fire.  _What's happening? S_ he sobbed, curling herself into a ball. She would have screamed, but found she couldn't, since she lost her voice.

Time passed in a blur; Aoi didn't know if she was in the cell for hours, days, or weeks. Water and food were pushed through a slot in the door. She drank the water ravenously, but left the food untouched; she couldn't eat anything without getting violently sick.

Finally, the door opened, and Aoi saw the silver-haired man.  _Kabuto._ He unchained her, and pulled her to her feet. "Can you walk?" he asked.

"No," she rasped. She had partially gotten her voice back, even though now it was painful for her to speak.

"Tch," The medic-nin roughly picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder. He dropped her on the floor once they were inside a lab. "The chakra implant seems like a failure, Orochimaru-sama," he stated. "Even after three days, it seems incompatible with her body."

"That's too bad," answered the snake sannin. When she heard his voice, her eyes widened, and her body involuntarily shook.

"Should we remove the implant?" asked Kabuto.

"No." Orochimaru responded. "Maybe it will activate with time. We will document our findings regardless; though this might have been a failure, we can use this info to succeed next time." The snake sannin nodded at Kabuto, who left the room. He then knelt down to Aoi's level and stroked her face. Reminded of Obito, she flinched, trying to get out of his grasp, aggravating her injuries in the process. "Madara was right," he murmured, so softly that she could barely hear it, "you are weak, but you lived through the procedure. You must have some strength, after all." He leaned in closer, tilting his head. "Maybe I just didn't add enough chakra." Before she could resist, the tall man's hand slammed onto the device. Besides the initial agony that came from the device being agitated, an intense burning pain attacked her chest, then spread throughout her entire body. Aoi tried to suppress her cries, but she couldn't stifle them. Her head spun, and before she knew it, she was on the floor, thrashing around. She felt Orochimaru stomp on her bad leg, but she was too far gone to acknowledge it. She closed her eyes and prepared for more pain when she heard some sort of explosion echo throughout the base.

"We'll finish this discussion later; I have a few questions to ask you." Orochimaru removed his foot from her leg and left the room.

Aoi let herself sob, curling into the fetal position. She flinched when she heard footsteps enter the room and wrapped her arms around her chest. Thinking that Orochimaru had returned, she tried to get up so she could run away, but failed. She saw a glimpse of the people who entered the room and felt relieved before she let herself sink into unconsciousness.

* * *

Sasori waited for Deidara to set off his bombs before he and Kakuzu walked into the room. They snuck around the entire base looking for Aoi, but couldn't seem to find her anywhere. They had interrogated some guards about her before killing them, but no one seemed to know where she was. However, one man said that she was in Lab C, which was where they were headed to.

When the explosion was finally heard, the puppet master saw Orochimaru leaving the room. His blood boiled and he desperately wanted to kill the man, but knew that rescuing Aoi was his first priority, according to Pein. When he was sure that the snake sannin had left the hallway, he quickly signaled to Kakuzu that it was time to enter the room.

When he opened the door, he narrowed his eyes. Aoi lay unconscious on the floor, still wearing the Akatsuki pants, but topless save a bloodstained bra. Without batting an eye, he looked closer, and saw that something was stuck to the middle of her chest. Squinting, he touched it, and she cried out. Tilting his head, he studied the device, but found that he was stumped as to what it could be for. Her left leg was broken again, and he rolled her pants up to her knee to assess the damage. Besides being swollen, it was discolored, and Sasori knew that there was a chance she lost the use of it. He gently picked her up, practically cradling her in his arms, since that was the only way for him to hold her comfortably.  _She looks dead, though she is still breathing._ He knew that human skin was typically not as pale as Aoi's was currently, and that their eyes weren't normally as sunken-looking. Turning to Kakuzu, he spoke. "Something's wrong with her."

The Taki-nin merely grunted, not acknowledging the comment. "Let's find Deidara-san and get the hell out of here."

Sasori nodded, trying to position Aoi so that he could carry her comfortably.  _You better make it, girl. All of this better not have been for nothing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> I am slowly reaching the point where I no longer need to edit these as much, XD. Only a few things have changed in this one.


	10. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT 2014:  
> Finally, I am doing less and less editing for this, since the writing is becoming more current. I think that, starting with the next chapter, only some continuity errors will be fixed, and that's it.

-Chapter Nine: Escape-

Once Deidara had set off his bombs, he hurried into Lab H, the room Sasori assigned him. His bombs were supposed to be the diversion; he himself wasn't supposed to be seen. He really hoped that Sasori and Kakuzu found Aoi; he had almost no more clay. Plus, this place just creeped him out, especially the smell of antiseptic and the harsh lights.

His head jerked up as he heard the door open. He rapidly looked around, his heart sinking when he realized there was nowhere he could hide. His heart sunk even further when he saw the person who entered.  _Damn. Orochimaru._ He reached into the bag attached to his belt, only to remember that he only had enough clay for one or two more bombs.  _This isn't good._

"Hello, Deidara-kun," he said, his voice as smooth as silk. "It's been awhile. Two years, right? You look older."

The blond slowly walked backwards, trying to strategize, as the sannin walked towards him. The closer he got, the more on-edge Deidara got. Something about Orochimaru was…different…from his fellow Akatsuki members, though he wasn't exactly sure what. Though he was an S-Class shinobi, he knew that without his bombs, he was at a disadvantage, especially since he was typically a long-range fighter.

Before the Iwa-nin could even blink, the sannin's hand wrapped around his throat, pushing him against the wall. "Hmm," said the golden-eyed man, unsnapping the blond's Akatsuki cloak, letting it fall to the floor.

_Don't let him get to you. Let him try to scare you; it'll give you time to think._

"I've done some more research on your kekkei-genkai, as well as that kinjutsu scroll you stole. I wonder…" He pulled a kunai out of his shirt pocket and slashed Deidara's shirt down the middle, scratching him in the process. Once he removed the shirt, he traced the pattern of the blonde's extra mouth with the knife. "Aww, you sewed it up? Are you disgusted by your talents?"

"Shut up, un!" Deidara rasped. It was getting harder for him to breathe, and the room was starting to blur.  _I just need to hold on a little longer. I'll use my bombs when I'm sure I can kill him._ He used some of the remaining strength he had to spit in the black-haired man's face. "Go to hell, you bastard!" Smirking, he used the position he was in to his advantage and kicked the older man in the stomach.

"Now Dei-kun, that wasn't very nice," hissed Orochimaru, dropping the kunai. Using his other hand, he grabbed the blond's hair and smashed his head into the wall. Letting him drop to the floor, he continued. "You're going to pay for that!"

* * *

 _Sasori's new partner is…interesting._ Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.  _He doesn't scream. Hmm, I wonder how much pain he will endure before he does. Since that stupid puppet is after the girl, he won't be able to help him. Perfect. If he values the life of his partner, this will destroy_   _him. It's funny to think that the first emotions he'll have are anger and grief…_

He placed his foot on Deidara's chest and started to put pressure on it. As the bomber grunted, more pressure was added. With one swift movement he stomped on the blond, smirking when he heard a cracking noise. He was disappointed when the Iwa-nin only grimaced. He was expecting a different reaction. "Why won't you scream, you little shit?" he kneeled down next to his opponent and violently shook his shoulders. "What's wrong with you?"

Deidara only shook his head, a smirk on his face as he looked up. Suddenly, he lunged forward, knocking Orochimaru off his feet. He tried to punch him in the face, but his broken ribs hindered him a bit. The sannin managed to dodge most of it, though he still caught enough of it to be annoyed.

"Brat? What the hell is going on? You were supposed to meet us back at the entrance!"

 _Sasori._ Orochimaru smirked, dodging another one of Deidara's punches.  _Perfect. Just in time, too._

The redhead walked into the room and stopped when he saw his partner and the snake-like man. Just to irritate his former partner, he kicked Deidara in the chest, most likely breaking a few more ribs. However, the smirk never left the blond's face, which infuriated Orochimaru. His last shred of patience was shot when Deidara grabbed his ankle and used his palm-mouth to bite it. Hissing, he kicked his hand aside and stomped on it, pleased with the 'crunch' he heard.

"What did you do, Orochimaru?" Sasori asked. His voice seemed neutral enough, but Orochimaru could sense the undiluted anger that was meant for him.

 _No, that's not what I want_. Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.  _I need his reaction to be more…violent. What to do, what to do?_ An idea slowly formed in his head, and smirked evilly. _This will absolutely_ destroy  _him!_ He lunged at Deidara and grabbed his hair, forcing his face close to his. "You didn't scream once while we fought, and I can sense the power in your chakra," he whispered. "I want to keep an eye on you…" Smirking, he leaned forward and sunk his teeth into Deidara's neck. The blond tried to thrash away, but the sannin's grip on his hair prevented him from doing so.

Orochimaru locked eyes with Sasori while making the punctures deeper. His former partner's face went from shocked to…enraged.  _Bingo_.

"You're fucking dead!" The redhead's face twisted with hatred, but before he could attack, he stopped, his eyes narrowing.

Puzzled, Orochimaru loosened his hold on Deidara. He felt something on the back of his neck, and realized what it was too late. With a smirk, the blond kicked him forward and stumbled to his feet.

"Katsu!"

As the explosive detonated, Orochimaru smirked one more time before disappearing with a puff of smoke.

* * *

Sasori was a man who took pride in the fact that he could remain composed and emotionless for almost anything. He nearly forgot what true anger was, so when it bubbled through his heart, he was surprised. He had no idea whether it came from the fact that he was face-to-face with Orochimaru, the man who betrayed the Akatsuki and his trust, or that said man was terrorizing Deidara, the closest thing he had to an ally (though he would never admit it aloud). At the moment, he didn't want to distract himself by wondering; all he wanted to do was kill.

Before he could let all his strategies fly out the window in favor of giving into the anger and blindly attacking, he saw Deidara, whose unbroken hand was shaking—probably from the strain of his injuries—press a small clay spider onto the back of Orochimaru's neck.

 _Of course. So that's why you didn't try harder to escape. You were always so reckless, Deidara._ Though he was still enraged, his thoughts became more rational.  _I hope you know what you're doing. If you made that bomb too powerful, you'll blow us all up._

However, he was pleasantly surprised when the blast was smaller than he thought it would be. The surprise turned to shock (though he made sure his face stayed neutral) when instead of exploding, Orochimaru merely disappeared, leaving a cloud of smoke behind.

 _What? A bunshin?_ Sasori realized what had happened: Orochimaru had created a bunshin to distract them both while he escaped.  _Damn him!_  He hated how he was feeling; he just wanted all of his emotions to be gone.  _This is why I became a puppet; why am I getting those damn emotions back?_

Sasori was snapped back into reality when Deidara spoke.

"Let's go, un. My neck and ribs are killing me."

Despite the nonchalant tone in the bomber's voice, Sasori could sense the slight fear in it. If he had fought any other opponent, the redhead would have made a scathing comment to goad his partner into responding furiously (the way his emotions were so easily displayed amused him). But since Orochimaru was involved, he was not in the mood for a debate. Not to mention the sannin had literally sunken his teeth into Deidara.

 _Given that a bunshin bit him, as well as the fact that he's still conscious, I doubt he was given a curse mark. But still…_ He made a mental note to ask Kakuzu to look for any unnatural spikes in chakra when he healed the blond.

Sasori noticed Deidara's Akatsuki robe was discarded on the floor. He quickly snatched up the garment and threw it at the bomber, who caught it and draped it over his shoulders.

When they met Kakuzu, who had gone ahead to keep Aoi out of any further conflicts, at the entrance of the hideout, the puppet master explained their battle with 'Orochimaru' (but not without some interruptions from Deidara, who tried to embellish everything to make him look more powerful). As soon as all three exited the building, the Taki-nin turned to Sasori. "You're carrying the girl."

"Why? You're the tallest of us," Sasori countered.

"She lives with you. She's your problem."

Too irritated to argue, the redhead just sighed and grabbed the brunette.  _None of this would have happened if you weren't here._ He narrowed his eyes.  _Then again, you did tell us how we could prevent our deaths._ At the moment, he wasn't sure whether he should be grateful to her or not. The girl always made him feel on-edge, and he didn't like it, especially since he couldn't pinpoint the reason why.

Sighing, he shifted Aoi's position to make carrying her more comfortable and quickened his pace to catch up with Kakuzu.

* * *

It took three days for the group to get back to the Akatsuki base. During the first night, Kakuzu healed Deidara's ribs and hand. When he tried to heal the puncture wounds on his neck, however, they wouldn't close up. There was no sign of a curse mark, nor was there any poison in the wound, so the stitched-nin wasn't sure why they wouldn't heal. After awhile, he gave up, slapping a bandage on Deidara's neck and telling him to wash it frequently.

Aoi didn't wake up once during the journey, not even when her leg was healed, or when the device in her chest was grabbed. Kakuzu had suspected said device was the cause of her illness. He wasn't sure if he should remove it, so he decided to wait until they got back to the base to study it further. He really didn't care if the girl died or not; he felt no connection to her, but Pein explicitly ordered her to be brought back alive if Orochimaru didn't kill her. He did not want to face the pierced man's wrath, so for this reason alone did Kakuzu swear to try to heal the girl to the best of his abilities.

Once they returned to the base, Kakuzu brought Aoi straight to his infirmary. He laid her down on one of the operating tables. An inquisitive Deidara and a seemingly indifferent Sasori stared at him.

"Do you know what's wrong with her, un?" asked Deidara.

"I'm going to try to discover that right now," answered the Taki-nin. He was starting to get irritated from Deidara's constant hovering.  _He's becoming worse than Hidan_. _Wait, no, scratch that, no one's more annoying than that silver-haired bastard!_

He cracked his knuckles and began to work. He placed his glowing hands over the girl's chest, trying to sense what was wrong. His unusually-colored eyes narrowed when he figured out the problem. "That device," he finally said, "is pumping chakra throughout her body. However, it seems that the chakra is incompatible with her, and is slowly killing her from the inside out."

"What can you do, Kakuzu-san?" asked Sasori. "Can you remove the device?"

"No," answered the stitched man. "I can sense that the device attached tendrils of chakra—very similar to your chakra strings—around her heart and lungs. If I removed the device, those tendrils would constrict around the organs, destroying them and therefore killing her. However, I can stop the flow of chakra from the device, stopping the creation of more tendrils. From there, I don't know what to do."

Sasori nodded. "Do what you must." Deidara nodded as well.

"Very well, then. I will start the procedure," answered the miser. He pressed his hand against the device, sucking out all the chakra. When it was empty, he cracked his knuckles. "I've removed all of the chakra besides the already-created tendrils; she is stabilized for now. She will not die, but she will forever have a weak heart."  _I wouldn't even steal it if I could; it would be worth nothing_.

He noticed that another reason for her discomfort was that the device was only cauterized externally, yet was free to move internally. He pressed his hand to the wound once more, feeling his medical ninjutsu seal the inside of the incision as well. "Now she will not be in any more unnecessary pain," he explained.

"When will she wake up? Before the mission, Pein-sama told me to get him and Itachi as soon as she was awake."

"My guess is that she will regain consciousness when her body is done reconfiguring itself to accept the device. I doubt it will take much longer; she is no longer in any danger of dying."

"What should we do until then, un?" asked Deidara, tapping his foot.

"Simple, Deidara-san," replied Kakuzu. "We wait." He was sure Sasori gave him a death glare, but he chose to ignore it. He knew Pein wouldn't be happy if he killed any more members.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> Like the first A/N update stated, this one wasn't as edited as heavily as the others, since it was previously edited pretty well in 2013. I just altered some awkward phrasing.


	11. Interrogation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> I think this is the last chapter I will alter, since I am mostly satisfied with my 2013 writing. (However, I will update the A/Ns for future chapters.)
> 
> /
> 
> Welcome to Chapter Ten! Thank you for reading the story up to this point! I'd just like to say that I know the previous chapter was very heavy on the explanation of the chakra device and Aoi getting healed. When I write original stories, I usually write sci-fi (well, not with aliens, but with a lot of scientific experimentation), and I like to make everything seem believable. I know it might have been boring, but I wanted to make the story as realistic as possible (or, however realistic it could be in the Naruto world).

-Chapter Ten: Interrogation-

As soon as Aoi opened her eyes, she felt a throbbing pain in her chest. It wasn't as bad as it was before, but it was enough to make her wince.

"Ah. You're finally up." Sasori narrowed his eyes and tilted his head slightly. Turning to Deidara, he barked, "Brat! Get Pein-sama and Itachi-san."

"Uchiha too? Why him, un?"

"Who else specializes in genjutsu and has Sharingan?"

"Fine. Point taken." Cracking his neck, Deidara exited.

Despite the pain, Aoi forced herself to sit up. "What's going on?"

"Because you were taken by Orochimaru, and could have given away valuable information about this organization, especially since you know so much about us, Pein-sama and Itachi-san are going to interrogate you to make sure you didn't." The redhead's voice was cold.

"But I didn't!"

"We need to know for sure."

Aoi looked down, not liking this at all. Suddenly realizing that all that was covering her top half was a bra, she blushed and covered her chest.

"Here." Not meeting her eyes, Sasori removed his cloak and threw it at her. "Your current state of dress is indecent."

The brunette nodded, blushing further, and quickly put on the garment. Before she could say 'thanks', Itachi and Pein entered the room, along with Deidara. Looking around, she noticed that Kakuzu was sitting in a chair, counting his money.

"Pein-sama. Itachi-san." Sasori nodded at each of them.

"Before we start the interrogation, I have something to ask," stated Itachi. "Kakuzu-san, what is your assessment of her injuries?"

Not looking up from his precious money, the Taki-nin responded with, "There's a device in her chest that was supposed to pump chakra throughout her entire body. Her body rejected it, and the chakra was killing her from the inside out. The device attached tendrils of chakra around her heart and lungs. If I removed it, the tendrils would constrict around the organs, destroying them and killing her. However, I stopped the flow of chakra, therefore stopping the creation of more tendrils. She is stabilized for now, but her heart has become weak."

The Uchiha nodded. "So she was used as a test subject, I presume."

Aoi knew she should have been annoyed by the fact that everyone was talking about her like she wasn't there, but she was too nervous about the interrogation to care. When Pein turned to her, she forced herself to look into his eyes, though she was completely intimidated.

"Before we begin, I want to state how serious this is. If you revealed any hint of information to Orochimaru, you will be put to death. I want you to know that this is nothing personal; Akatsuki just doesn't tolerate traitors."

"Right." Aoi gulped. She gripped the fabric of Sasori's cloak until her knuckles turned white.

Itachi stepped forward, his Sharingan almost glowing. Aoi instinctively closed her eyes, but opened them again when the Uchiha grabbed her chin and tilted her head upwards. Once again, she found herself being sucked into the raven-haired man's gaze. Feeling lightheaded, she gripped the edge of the table for support. When she was tired of the pounding in her head, she let the blackness of unconsciousness overtake her.

* * *

Itachi really didn't want to poke through Aoi's mind again, but he would rather do it than have Pein or one of the others interrogate her physically. He already knew a lot more about the girl than any of the others did, as well as knowing some…interesting…facts about the world he himself lived in. He wanted to get the chance to talk with her alone at some point, and hoped that she did not leak any information.

 _Show me your entire stay with Orochimaru,_ he silently spoke. He was able to slip into the memory with less resistance than the time before, so he was a bit concerned that her mind was becoming more vulnerable to genjutsu. However, he needed to focus on the interrogation, so he pushed the thought out of his mind.

As he watched the procedure, he was surprised at how much pain Aoi was able to endure before she passed out. He thought Orochimaru would go on with his cruel experiment as-is, and narrowed his eyes at the fact that he jolted her awake before continuing.

The memory skipped forward, and Itachi found himself in another lab.

_Orochimaru knelt down to Aoi's level and stroked her face. She flinched, trying to get out of his grasp, obviously aggravating her injuries in the process. "Madara was right," he murmured, "you are weak, but you lived through the procedure. You must have some strength, after all." He leaned in closer, tilting his head. "Maybe I just didn't add enough chakra." Before she could resist, the tall man's hand slammed onto the device._

_The brunette cried out and fell back, writhing from the pain, and Orochimaru stomped on one of her legs. He looked ready to inflict more damage, but stopped when he heard an explosion echo throughout the base._

_"We'll continue this later," he hissed. "I have some questions about my old friends in Akatsuki…"_

Itachi suddenly found himself back in the infirmary. Blinking a few times, he laid Aoi back down on the table. "No information was leaked to Orochimaru, Pein-sama."

"So she was able to resist his interrogation?" Pein's eyes narrowed.

"Yes and no," stated the Uchiha. "She was able to take an unusually high amount of pain, especially for someone who is a civilian, before passing out. However, Orochimaru's priority was using her as a test subject, not interrogation. From what I saw, though, it seemed as though he planned to interrogate her later."

"So what happened during the procedure, un?" Deidara narrowed his visible eye.

"It doesn't matter. All we needed to know was that she did not betray Akatsuki." Sasori's voice was cold. "I am disappointed; I was hoping that I would be able to add her to my collection…"

Something about the way Sasori spoke intrigued Itachi. He was an expert at reading people's emotions, and was puzzled by the fact that the redhead's seemed jumbled. The puppeteer, like the Uchiha himself, was always composed, even when threatening or killing people. However, there was something underneath his sharp tone that Itachi couldn't quite place.

He was snapped back to reality when Kakuzu spoke. "Can someone take the brat out of here? She's not going to die any time soon—unless one of us kills her—so she doesn't need to be here."

"Very well. I will take her back to my room." Before Itachi could pick her up, Deidara stepped forward.

"Your room? I thought she was living with us, un."

"I think it would be best if Aoi-san was away from you two for a few days. She needs time to recover, and your constant debating will only make it worse," the Uchiha smoothly responded. Turning to Pein, he inquired, "Is this all right, Leader-sama?"

The pierced man nodded, leaving the room. Deidara scowled, and Itachi assumed it was because once again, he had 'bested' the bomber. He mumbled something under his breath before leaving as well. Itachi gently picked up Aoi and was about to exit when he was stopped by Sasori.

"What's your goal?" the redhead whispered. "I know you have something up your sleeve."

"Don't you think Aoi-san could use some time to get to know other members besides you and Deidara-san?"

Before the puppet master could respond, Itachi left the infirmary.

* * *

Sasori narrowed his eyes before leaving the room. He contemplated following Itachi, but decided not to; he wanted to work on his puppets some more. However, he was still trying to piece together why the Uchiha wanted Aoi away from him and Deidara; he was sure that there was an ulterior motive.

When he got back to his room, he was pretty sure Deidara was sulking, a fact which slightly amused him. "Aren't you happy, brat? We get our room back."

"Stupid Uchiha, un," was all he got in response.

Narrowing his eyes at the childish (and one-sided) rivalry between his partner and Itachi, Sasori ignored Deidara and proceeded to add some new mechanisms to one of his puppets. Despite working on his art, he found his thoughts straying back to Aoi, and the reaction she gave when asked about her opinion of being Akatsuki's tool.  _Her answer was so…cold._ Shaking his head, he forced himself to focus on the puppet in front of him.  _Who cares about some girl who will die. You don't understand her, and no matter what she says otherwise, she sure as hell doesn't understand you. She hasn't even been here a month and she already jeopardized this organization. I don't understand why Pein just won't kill her, or order one of us to. We know our futures; she's done her job. In her words, she's a tool who's gone dull._

"Uh, Sasori no danna?"

Deidara's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "What, brat?"

"Why did you put the leg on backwards, un?"

Sasori looked down and saw that the blond was indeed correct.  _Shit._ Standing up, he strode over to the door and pulled it open with more force than necessary.  _I have to end this, now._

"Where are you going?"

"I left my cloak with Aoi-san. I need to get it back; my mission report for Pein is in one of the pockets."

Before Deidara would answer, he left.  _Hopefully Itachi is busy; I don't need him involved._

When Sasori reached Itachi's and Kisame's shared room, he tentatively opened the door. No one responded, so he assumed both were out.  _Perfect._ Narrowing his eyes, he silently shut the door behind him. Because of the lamp that was fortunately on, he could see Aoi sleeping on one of the beds.  _I have to do this quickly; I probably don't have much time._ Reaching into a pocket on his pants, he pulled out a sheathed knife.  _Good thing the poison on this one induces cardiac arrest. Her death can be blamed on the device._ Removing the knife from its sheath, he proceeded to kneel down next to the bed. He then unsnapped his cloak and removed Aoi's arms from it. Leaning closer, he scanned her body for a good spot to cut. He was about to make his move when the girl flipped onto her side and stretched her arms out, wrapping them around his chest.

Sasori nearly dropped the knife, recoiling as though he had been slapped. Emotions hit him harder than they ever had since he turned himself into a puppet, and he didn't like it. Not used to the physical contact, he quickly removed the brunette's arms from around him and stood up. He looked at the knife a few moments before covering it and throwing it back into his pocket.  _I…I can't kill her. Why can't I kill her?_ Confused, he shook his head, unsure of why he was acting this way. Narrowing his eyes, he left the room, his hand over his heart.

* * *

 _My suspicions were correct._ Itachi unmasked his chakra and walked out from the bathroom, puzzled by the new developments. Ever since the change in Sasori's tone, the Uchiha had a feeling he would try to kill Aoi, though he wasn't sure why. He took the girl back to his room to test the theory, and was unsurprised to see that it was indeed correct. If the puppet master actually decided to go through with it, Itachi planned to leave the bathroom and stop him, since the redhead would be going against Pein's orders. However, he predicted that Sasori wouldn't do it for an unknown reason. He did not predict that the girl would unconsciously latch onto him.

Itachi knew more about Aoi than any of the other members; he knew her likes, dislikes, favorite foods, etc. He also knew that Akatsuki, as well as their entire world, was fictional in Aoi's. By scanning her thoughts the first time, he gleaned that she knew all about them not from dreams, but because they were characters in a picture-novel, or manga, as she called it. He knew that he and the rest of the organization were her favorite characters because they were outcasts, just like her. Just by focusing on those thoughts, as well as what he knew of her personality and life, he could easily guess who her favorite member was. And he was concerned. Not just for her, but for the member she favored and kept her eye on. He knew that if they got too close, it would not end well for either.  _She doesn't belong with us, no matter how much she understands us. She is too innocent._

Sighing, Itachi snapped the cloak back up and pulled a blanket over the brunette. Grabbing a thick novel from his well-stocked bookshelf, he sat down in his chair and proceeded to read. He wanted to wait until Kisame came back before he went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EDIT 2014*:  
> Besides a few tiny lines that needed to be fixed, this one was not altered much. I think I have reached the point where I no longer need to edit this.
> 
> /
> 
> EDIT 2013:  
> Finally! I finished this! It might be a bit shorter than my usual chapters, but I didn't know where else to end it, XD.
> 
> I really, really hope that Itachi and Sasori weren't OOC (especially Itachi. I didn't want to make him seem too nice, but I also wanted him to seem a bit protective. I feel like I butchered his scenes…).
> 
> Haha, for some reason, I can totally see Sasori looking horrified if he ever got hugged, XD.
> 
> Also, Itachi's acceptance of the fact that his world is fictional will be explained in the next chapter.


End file.
